


The Siren, The Healer and Darkness Himself

by Cress1029



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Background Relationships, Canon-Typical Violence, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, F/M, Gen, Minor Violence, Mostly Cannon Compliant, Pietro Maximoff Lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:27:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 36,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22631827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cress1029/pseuds/Cress1029
Summary: Three new characters in the familiar stories of the Avengers: a young girl who recently lost her vision and  can manipulate someone's opinions with her voice, a teenage girl with the power to heal who just wants to make it through high school and go to college, and a boy caught up in a war he doesn't quite understand with the ability to control darkness. What will they change?Most of this follows Age of ultra (starting chapter four) and Civil War.
Relationships: Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Pietro Maximoff & Wanda Maximoff, Pietro Maximoff/Original Female Character(s), Wanda Maximoff/Vision
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15





	1. Adeline Reeds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit 02/07/2021:This chapter is not edited but the rest are.

Adeline, that was the name of the girl who laid in the hospital before Fury. Normally he wouldn’t be wasting his time hanging out in the hospital room of a 5 year old girl, even if she was a victim of an alien invasion. Adeline however was an exception.

Right now she laid unconscious in the hospital’s bed the heart monitor beating at a normal pace. She had been in the hospital for a day or so. Whenever she came to they had to sedate her.

Nick had read her fileshe. She had been found with, her brother and her parents,who were both SHIELD employees , huddled under a pile of ruble, by some miracle all four of them survived. Adeline had suffered many injuries including vision loss in both her eyes due to debris, they wouldn’t be able to tell how bad it was until they could run some more tests. As of now she had bandages over both eyes and Fury knew how bad it hurt. These factors had led to screaming every time she regained consciousness, though that still didn’t require Fury’s presence, it was what her screams did that required the presence of a SHIELD agent, Fury came because he owed it to her mother and father.

With her screaming she seemed to be inflicting all her pain and fear upon anyone within earshot , so now they had her separated from the other patients and had just switched her Iv so she would be waking up any minute now. Sure enough Adeline awoke screaming and thrashing, and just as the terrified nurses had described Fury felt pain and fear washing over him.

Oddly enough Clint ,who had tagged along due to his experience with kids, seemed less affected. Clint approached Adeline and firmly placed a hand on her shoulder to try and steady her.

“ Adeline” he said with a very fatherly tone of voice “ I need you to stop screaming for a moment can you do that?”

After a couple tries the five year old stopped her thrashing and screaming obviously bewildered by the unfamiliar voice her small hands searched around for his hand feeling the calluses from his bow .

“ W-who are you? “ she asked her voice timid and barely above a whisper. One hand still grasping Clint’s the other searching for his face.

He sat down allowing her to feel his face though she didn’t seem to know what she was searching for.“ Have you heard of Hawkeye?” He asks her motioning for Fury to stay put.

“ He was on the news? Fighting Loki?” She answers brow furrowed , turning her head towards his voice though she was slightly off.

“ Yes I’m hawkeye” he smiles at her even though she can’t see it.

“ Mr. Hawkeye I- I’m scared how do I know you aren’t really Loki ”

Clint smiled down at her she was different from other kids here age and not just because of what her screams had done.

“Loki has been locked away, Adeline you don’t need to worry.”

Fury watched them go back and forth like this for a while he would try to point out that he was on a schedule but Clint kept motioning for him to stay quiet so as not to startle her.The girl was odd she quieted down as soon as Clint told her to and didn’t fuss about the pain or ask about her sight or her parents. She simply talked to Clint like she had known him for years.

After an hour of her talking to Clint she started to drift off and Clint promised to visit tomorrow if she was good.

As they left they decided it was best to wait until she was adjusted before introducing new people, including Fury. This turned out to be a good call because while she seemed stable when talking to Clint the littlest things would set her off. So for the first week Fury continued to watch quietly from one of the chairs, it wouldn’t be long before she started to notice the second pair of footsteps.

As the week ended Adeline’s parents were finally well enough for her to visit. her father was moved into her mother's room so that the two of them could see her at the same time.

Adeline had trailed behind Clint on the way to their room holding onto the him of his shirt his hand resting on her head guiding her down the hall. “ Mr Hawkeye, w-where are we going?” She asked slowing her uneven footstep.

“To see your parents.” He watches waiting for her face to light up, now that the bandages were off her eyes they darted from place to place trying to see what she heard. An awkward minute passed before she simply nodded her face empty of any emotion before resuming her uneven footsteps first the large boot then the pink sock with cats on it. Boot, sock, boot, sock.

She had refused to put on shoes and insisted on walking despite the pain she must have been in, painkillers only did so much. They reached her mother's hospital room and Adeline stopped once again pulling on Clint’s shirt to get him to look at her.

“Are are they both in here” she ask feeling the door frame

“ Yes, we can wait if you want, you don’t have to go in now they’ll understand” he told her carefully brushing a strand of dark hair out of her face. Her scared eyes stared right past him.

“But they want to see me?” It wasn’t really a question, but he said yes anyway . “ okay” she wrapped her hand around his and let him guide her in pulling her iv stand behind them.

“Adeline...” her mother’s voice broke seeing her five year old in such bad condition. Evelyn, Adeline’s mother, held her hand out to her daughter.

Clint led Adeline over to her mother and set her down in Evelyn’s lap. Adeline’s father, David moved closer and held his daughter’s hand both parents filled with joy to see her okay.

They were both beaten up pretty bad but that didn’t seem to stop them from trying their best to get Adeline to laugh or smile thought Adeline just seemed confused and kept asking for her brother.

“He’s okay” her fathered assured her “just not up for visitors

After half an hour Clint was walking Adeline back to her room, her face just as void of emotion as it had been when the where walking to see her parents and the whole time she was with them.

“It is common for people to seem distant after traumatic events” the nurse had informed them .She will be okay, they reassured Clint when he asked about the nightmares, she will be okay, they said watching her stare blankly at the wall, she’ll be okay was how they answered everything.

Some time over the past few weeks Clint seemed to have decided to play the role of worried adult in place of her parents while they recovered. He would make sure she ate, and got the sleep she needed, he distracted her when she started to worry.

Fury was getting increasingly anxious to get the whole thing done, but they couldn’t run their test while she was still at the hospital.

“ Mr. Hawkeye..” Adeline whispered quietly to him staring at the same spot she had been since he came back from an errand. Though staring wasn’t really the right word it implied she was looking at something specific Clint suspected she was just trying to see something.

“ Am I a bad daughter?” The question was quiet and packed with fear.

“ What do you mean?” He asked this was a question he had not expected her to ask.

“ When.. when we went to see my parents they said they where scared and that they missed me and loved me and i was scared but not for them I didn’t miss them.” She was crying now her words mixed with sobs.

Clint pulled her into a hug “ You are not a terrible daughter you are just going through a lot. A little broken but not a terrible daughter.” He reassured her. She pulled back looking horrified.

“ I-I’m broken?”

Clint mentally hit himself” just a little, but can I tell you a secret? We’re all a little broken” he stage whispered to her.

She is facing him and he thinks maybe she almost smiles.


	2. The Avengers

"I'm leaving tomorrow?" Adeline repeated placing another band-daid over a cut on his arm, though she barely missed the cut. Clint nodded. "Where will I go?" she asked, recalling that their apparent building had collapsed around her.

"That's what I'm here to explain" said Fury as he appeared in the doorway, causing Adeline to jump."I have some test of my own I need to run"

That night Happy came to pick Adeline up. Neither of them said a word the entire drive. when they arrived he helped her out, handed her her stuff and then drove off.

"Hello," Pepper greeted Adeline after Happy had left "you must be Adeline." Adeline nodded despite the fact that it wasn't really a question. "If you could come with me." Pepper started to walk forward but Adeline didn't move.

She was standing there clutching a stuffed animal and a bag of toiletries from the hospital. She looked terrified. "Can I hold your hand?" she whispered

Pepper smiled and took her outstretched hand and led her to where the team waited.

"Hey Squirt!" Clint smiled over his coffee from where he sat on the counter. Adeline's head snapped towards him and a smile flashed across her lips though it was quickly replaced with her usual expression.

" I thought you said she liked you," Natasha joked.

Clint made a face at her as Adeline wrapped an arm around his leg. The other Avengers watched the exchange in awkward silence.

"Well I believe introductions are in order" Tony said, Adeline turned towards him still clinging to Clint like he was the only thing anchoring her down; with what she'd been through it was entirely plausible he was. "I'm a little to your left sweetie" he corrected, noticing she was actually looking at Bruce. Pepper shot him a dirty look but he just shrugged her off. " You know Clint already. I'm Tony," he motioned for Steve to introduce himself.

" Steve Rogers"

" Bruce Banner"

"Natasha" Adeline nodded at each of them.

" Then there's Thor who's off-world now" Tony said, waving his hands towards the ceiling " but that's not important you-"

"I don't think she's listening Stark" Nat smirked looking at the five year old who was drifting off to sleep.

"I got her" Clint said hopping of the counter. "Come on Squirt, it's way past your bedtime." Adeline waved sleepily at them over Clint shoulder.

"He's surprisingly good with kids," Steve noted.

Adeline spent the next couple of days just following Clint around. She rarely spoke. She was eerily quiet, just standing next to him, staring ahead blankly. Clint tried his best to help her but it was hard when she would just shake her head at everything they asked.

"It's like she's a duckling that's imprinted on him," Tony chuckled.

"She's not going to be happy that he's leaving tonight," Steve looked up from his files and watched as Clint read to Adeline.

When he left they had been expecting her to throw a fit. The closest they got was when he gave her a goodbye hug and told her he had to go; she shook her head 'no'. He led her inside and whispered something to her before motioning for Natasha to come over. Adeline latched on to Natasha's arm.

"See ya squirt" Clint said, ruffling her hair.

"Bye Mr. Hawkeye," she said quietly

"Remind me to pay for her therapist," Tony whispered to Pepper who nodded sadly.

"We're the Avengers," Tony shrugged when Bruce asked what they were going to do now, "We got this "

They did not. Adeline was fine most of the day, she just switched between following Nat and Steve around. Natasha because she was close to Clint and Steve because someone in her family was a Captain America fan. The trouble didn't start until late at night when little Adeline started screaming.

"Jarvis! What is going on!" Tony called through the searing pain.

"I believe Adeline is having a nightmare, sir" the AI replied.

"Adeline? Are you telling me that she's doing this?" he said through clenched teeth.

"I believe so, sir" Jarvis replied.

"Can you make her stop?"

" I can try sir."

Luckily Jarvis was able to calm her down through children's stories.

When Steve went to get her for breakfast the next morning he found her already up with a hint of a smile on her lips while Jarvis told her stories.

He knocked on the door frame, "Hey Adeline, Tony put his world-famous cooking skills to use and made scrambled eggs and almost-not-burnt toast"

She seemed to think it over for a moment, "Do I have to eat?"

"No one is going to make you." He sighed. "Why don't you come sit with us," he held out his hand which she clung too tightly.

She was like this most meals; only eating when they explicitly asked her too, and eating just enough to make them happy.

"We aren't running a daycare here," Tony grumbled. He was used to running on low sleep but now even when he wanted to Adeline made it significantly harder.

" SHIELD sent her here so that we could run extra test," Bruce tried to reason.

" Have you heard her at night? Her screams cause actual, physical pain!" Bruce looked over at Adeline, they were currently running test on brain activity. "That girl is never going to live a normal life especially if she can't control her voice" Tony sighed.

"She could be useful". Natasha said interjecting herself into the conversation.

" She's five Nat, you can't take a five year old into a fight!" Steve said "We should be worried about what to tell her parents, and how to help them, not how we can use her to our advantage"

" I'm sorry, when did this become an Avengers meeting?" Tony asked.

"Her parents are SHIELD they'll understand what's happened to her. And I'm not saying now but-" Nat continued over him.

"Wait, what!" Tony looked at her wide-eyed, "that would of been helpful!"

Bruce just shook his head and went back to monitoring her.

After about a week, they had run every test they could think to run and gotten back all the results.

"You're sure?" Fury asked for at least the third time.

"Yes, I don't know what did it, but the basis is that it's mind control; but it has to be verbal. She can push on emotions, give you ideas, shape opinions. I don't know the full extent; she doesn't like talking " Bruce summed up, omitting technical terms for the sake of time.

"Do you think she knows?" It wasn't really a question.

"She knows her voice has odd effects. None of us have told her, but it's kinda hard not to notice"

"Where is she now?"

"On the phone with Clint"

" She likes him. That'll work to our advantage" Fury mused, ignoring the face Bruce makes. "I've talked with her family; they agree she'll need training. I'm hoping to start as soon as possible."

" I wouldn't get your hopes up. She's going to need a while to heal;mentally more so than physically."

"Mr. Furry? Are you going to take me to Mama and Papa?" Adeline's timid voice asked, interrupting Fury's response and ignoring her brother's attempt to keep her quiet.

Her brother had arrived yesterday and there was a noticeable shift in Adeline's demeanor, though she still wouldn't smile, she seemed a little calmer, less anxious.

"They're here right now," Pepper piped in.

"They are?" Adeline sounded vaguely pleased, not nearly as happy as one would typically expect.

"They sure are," Pepper smiled, ushering the two out and towards their parents.

Elijah gripped his sister's hand and tugged her forward gently. She stumbled over to them and into their outstretched arms. She didn't hug back, but she didn't pull away.


	3. Training

They ended up moving to an apartment in Queens. Both Adeline and Elijah were homeschooled for the rest of the year to give them time to recover, mentally and physically, before returning to school. Over the school year Elijah began to hang out with Peter Parker, who lived next door, more and more; every now and then Adeline would tag along.

Adeline lived a somewhat normal life until Natasha stopped by their apartment two years after the Chitauri invasion. As far as Adeline could tell she had just gotten back from another mission with SHIELD. Adeline hadn't been paying them much attention until she heard her name.

"They knew about her, they knew about what she could do and how she couldn't control it, they thought they could train her. She needs to know how to control it," Natasha urged Evelyn and David. "Isn't that right, Adeline," Nat said the last part louder to reach Adeline who had been eavesdropping from the kitchen. Evelyn sighed and walked back to her bedroom to make a phone call. Adeline nodded. "Maybe get you talking again," Natasha chuckled

"I talk," Adeline replied, scrunching her nose as she took in Natasha's condition, " when I want."

"When you think it's safe," Natasha corrected shifting her weight off her injured leg. Adeline didn't try to deny it.

"Are they still coming for me?" She asked in the same tone used to ask about the weather.

"No"

"Adeline, why don't you go next door to the Parker's? I've just got off the phone with May. Come on, I'll walk you over" Evelyn said as she emerged from her bedroom.

"Can I stay? Please, I want to know what happened," Adeline pleaded, turning to her mother.

"Nope, May's already looking forward to you coming over. Wouldn't want to disappoint," Evelyn insisted with noticeable difficulty.

"She needs to learn control" Natasha stated " It's impressive you guys can control her."

"She's scared" He sighed.

"So let me help her," Natasha pleaded. David didn't say anything until Evelyn came back. "Squirts on summer break, you could come up to the tower for a little while. Barton could help teach her control, could make sure she's stable"

" It's been two years, what more test could you possibly have left to run?" Evelyn asked, running a hand through her hair.

"SHIELD is down Evelyn, they can't protect her, we might of stopped Hydra but there will always be new threats . What do you plan to do when someone comes for her?"

" You don't have to try and scare us Nat, we know," Evelyn sighed "but how do we know if she can handle it. We are her parents, Natasha. We are supposed to keep her safe. She's seven, she shouldn't have to do this. She should have a choice."

"She will, trust me Cap would never let her do anything relatively dangerous " Nat assured them.

***

"Hey Adeline!" Ned called from the couch

"Hi" she muttered following her brother, who sat down on the couch. Still clinging to his arm, she sat down next to him.

Her mother had just dropped her off, briefly explaining the situation to Elijah, and then coming up with an alternate explanation to tell May, one that did not involve SHIELD or anything else odd and/or concerning.

Now Adeline sat on the couch in the Parker's apartment and listened to May and Ben talk down the hall and Peter, Elijah and Ned debate about what to watch.

"What do you want to watch, Addie?" Peter asked. She simply shrugged, still trying to hear the conversation in her apartment, right on the other side of the living room wall, though she had no luck.

They ended up watching A New Hope which was no surprise. They had just started The Empire Strikes Back when Evelyn came back to get her " Thank you so much May" she smiled while Adeline said goodbye.

"Thank you, Aunt May" Adeline echoed her mother.

"Of course, any time!" May smiled. Adeline started heading back to their apartment.

"She's always so quiet" May commented once Adeline left. "Though I'm sure she has a lot to say to you; that's how it usually goes"

"She sure does" Evelyn forced a smile.

"See ya around Squirt" Natasha waved to Adeline as she passed her in the hallway.

"Goodbye Natasha. Will you and Mr. Hawkeye be visiting soon?" She asked, not realizing the force she put behind her words

"Of course! Don't cause to much trouble till then, save that till we see Clint again 'kay squirt?" Natasha joked, flicking one of the two buns atop her head. Adeline nodded before rushing back to her apartment.

***

"Mama, where are we going?" Adeline asked, taking in the unfamiliar car before watching Happy like he was from another planet.

"You'll see when they get there" she said, lifting one of their suitcases into the trunk.

"Where's dad?" Elijah asked.

"He'll meet us there."

"How long will we be gone?" Adeline asked, leaning forward in her seat.

"A week, please no more questions for a little while" Evelyn turned in her seat to smile at her kids.

***

"The Avengers' tower!" Elijah said with awe, despite the fact that they had been their on various occasions he still had the look of awe on his face.

Adeline wrinkled her nose. "No"

"Adeline come on" her mother called behind her.

"You said no more test. You said we were done with them, I was okay. I am okay" she insisted.

" I know sweetie, we're not here to run more tests, I promise," her mother said, gently pushing her forward.

Adeline mumbled something under her breath but started to walk forward, tapping her cane as she went.

"Hey squirt!" Clint called.

Adeline ran up to him, wrapping him in a hug " Why are we here?" she asked, pulling away.

"Stark will explain it," Clint ruffled her hair, "How ya been Eli?"

" I've been good!" Eli said from where he stood, looking at Tony's Iron Man suits.

"Hello Evelyn," Clint smiled, "David is already here. I'll take you to him."

* * *

After they got everyone unpacked they met with Tony and Bruce down in the lab.

"Hello Adeline," Bruce smiled from behind a screen, "How are you?"

Adeline didn't say anything, she just eyed him wearily, still not fully convinced they weren't going to run more tests on her.

"Adeline..." her father prompted.

"Hi" she didn't stop watching him.

Her father sighed, knowing that was the best he would get out of her. Bruce shook his head, laughing quietly to himself, before returning to the screens. "How have your powers been?"

"Still here" Adeline grumbled , it was no secret that she hated them.

"Have they gotten better? Worse?" Bruce prompted calmly.

"I don't know." She shrugged, absentmindedly running her hand along one of the tables.

"Can you control them to any extent?" Bruce stepped forward. Adeline just shook her head, "Have you tried to?" He continued. Anger and frustration flashed across her features. "Why don't you try" he glanced over at her parents who gave him nervous looks but didn't stop him, Adeline on the other hand was tapping her foot on the floor, anxiously, like she was hoping it would give way and provide an escape. "Its okay Adeline. You won't hurt me. I just want to see what you can do. We want to help you" he assured her.

"No," She said forcefully. Bruce felt his resolve crumble, and he turned to return to his work and let the topic go for today. "Stop" she quickly amended, trying to undo the effect. Bruce could hear the panic in her voice, and Bruce felt panic rising in him. "Stop" she whispered again, desperately. She saw her turn to her parents, but her panic was affecting them too. She pushed passed them, leaving the room quickly.

"Hey squirt" Clint called as she walked by him at a quick pace. "Adeline?" he called again noticing her panicked expression. He turned the corner and saw her family and Bruce in a panicked daze. "Hey squirt, wait up!" he turned after her running to catch up. "Hey squirt," he said again sitting down next to her. She sat on the floor pressed into the corner. "What's up?"

"I don't want them" she whispered quietly, "I can't control them"

"Do you want to control them?" he asked.

"I want them gone" her face settled into a scowl and she was clearly frustrated that he wasn't getting it.

"Well I'll tell you what, we can't get rid of them, but if you train to control them no one else has to know about them. No more top secret organizations, just the Avengers, which are like some of the coolest people ever," He nudged her and a smile flickered across her face", your family, and whoever you deem worthy. Deal?" He held out his hand and she reluctantly shook it. "Now why don't we head to the kitchen and get something to eat." He stood helping her up. He walked ahead of her, the consistent tapping of her cane following him.

When they reached the kitchen the two of them set to work making grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. Adeline went to the pantry, which Pepper kept well-organized, and found the bread while Clint went to the much less-organized fridge. By the time the others found the two of them they were sitting on the floor eating their sandwiches. They each had a mug set in front of them, Clint's with coffee and Adeline's with hot chocolate. Glancing at the clock, the others decided to join them in their makeshift dinner. After everyone ate, the adults began to exchange small talk while Adeline, Elijah, and Clint started a very serious three-way thumb war..

The next morning Natasha woke Adeline up at precisely 6:45. " We got training squirt!" Adeline just sat up and rubbed her eyes mumbling something to herself . "What was that?"

"Sleeeep" Adeline groaned pulling a pillow over her head as she laid back down.

" No can do kiddo. We only got a couple of days here and we are going to make the most of them" Natasha pulled the covers away from her. "Nothing hard, we are just going to try and figure out if anything has changed since you got them okay?"

Adeline sat up "No more test, I'm fine."

" Not those tests. Now come on, we got stuff to do" Natasha ruffled her hair. Adeline got up after a moment of grumbling and got dressed. She stumbled into the kitchen and took the bowl of cereal Natasha handed her.

After they ate, Natasha took Adeline to the training room. She told Adeline to stand on one end and Natasha walked to the other side."Try and stop me okay?"

Adeline closed her eyes. She swallowed hard and nodded. Natasha started to walk towards her slowly giving Adeline plenty on time. Adeline took a deep breath listening to her footsteps. "Stop," She said, Natasha took another step forward. "Stop," She tried again Natasha took another step "Stop," Another step.

Adeline took another deep breath obviously frustrated. "Stop," This time Natasha paused for a moment as if trying to remember what she was doing before taking another step. Adeline let out a quiet noise of frustration. At this point, Natasha was close enough to hear it and she stopped again, this time for longer, but she took another step, reaching Adeline.

"Good," Natasha nodded.

Adeline wrinkled her nose " I didn't do what you asked. That isn't good."

Natasha smiled sadly at her grasp for perfection. She knelt down to Adeline's eye level, "you don't have to be able to do it yet. You put forth your best effort and that's all I ask. Want to try again?"

Adeline nodded and they continued until everyone was awake, then they stopped to eat breakfast. Adeline poked at her stack of pancakes suspiciously. "Who cooked?"

"I did; now eat," her mother said, sitting down in the seat next to David. "How did it go?" She asked Natasha.

Natasha smiled at Adeline, "she did great." Adeline froze wide-eyed, fork full of pancakes halfway to her mouth. She smiled before shoving the bite into her mouth.

They continued to train throughout the day, and through the next few days, by Saturday, her third day of training, Adeline could stop Natasha for a moment on her first try; though only if Natasha didn't put up much of a fight. They were still working on keeping it under control when she was upset.

" Just focus on your breathing when you get upset" Clint reminded her ruffling her hair. It was Sunday now and her father had work on Monday, so they had to head home. "Behave yourself " he joked. The only trouble Adeline ever caused was her out-of-control powers.

Adeline smiled, "Bye, Mr. Hawkeye."


	4. Hydra's Little Experiments

Sokovia 2014

Two scientists walked the dark halls of the Hydra base.

“ How many do we have left?”

“ Three. A pair of twins and one of our youngest volunteers.”

“ Are they stable?”

“Not yet”

They turned the corner approaching the holding cells. Only three were occupied. The first held a girl around 18. She was manipulating blocks in one violent motion of her hands. She destroyed them, her expression never changing. The second held a boy also around 18, who kept running into the walls of his cell over and over again, his movements quick making him look like a glitching video game character.

The third cell held a nine year old boy who sat in the middle of the floor every shadow in all three cells and the outside hallway seemed to be pulled towards him and he was staring straight at the two scientists his eyes following them despite the fact that it was a one way window and he shouldn’t have been able to see them


	5. Casey Anderson

Steve was waiting outside of a high school for their newest recruit, Casey Anderson. He had volunteered to pick her up from school for her first mission the next day. She was on the taller side and had light pink hair, so it was easy to spot her wading through the crowd of students who were all trying to get out as quickly as possible

"Hellooo," she called in a sing-song voice walking towards him.

"Hello, you can probably guess why I'm here," he said returning her smile.

"Yep, but let's talk on the way, I'm honestly surprised no one has recognized you yet."

"They're all looking at their phones" Steve laughed "I'm surprised they notice anything at all."

"Yeah, well, I'm pretty sure Lisa has a sixth sense purely for when you are around" Casey snorted. Steve shot her a bewildered look as she slipped into the passenger seat of his car.

"Seriously?" He asked pulling out of his parking spot.

"The senior citizen parking was down that way" she informs him pointing to her left, earning an eye roll from Steve. "And yes I am being serious, when you and Evelyn came to talk to me about joining and met me after work, and then you said goodbye she heard you and she just stood straight up and said she heard Captain America'" Casey put her feet up on the dash.

"This is Tony's car..." Steve told her not sure how to respond to her story.

"And... he's rich. He can pay to get it cleaned, and if you think my friend is obsessed you should meet my AP Chem teacher, hey do you think you could stop by, tell her how hard I work and maybe convince her to ease up on the grading?"

"Seriously?" He shook his head smiling at her.

"Eh it was worth a shot," she shrugged fiddling with the radio. "Why is everything playing Christmas music?"

"What are you, the Grinch?" He asked, hoping he used the right movie reference.

"No it's just that Lisa has been playing it nonstop and I would like a break from it." She settled on a station before she continued, "So, what is my first mission?"

"We found a base, in Sokovia we think might belong to some old friends of ours."

"We found another Hydra base?" She asked, trying to clarify. She wasn't sure if she was excited or scared. "So, we go after it now?" She was kinda new to the whole avenging thing.

"Tomorrow, yes," Steve nodded. "You'll stay on the jet," he added.

Casey nodded. She knew she wasn't brought on for her fighting, but she also wasn't completely useless when it came to combat.

"How far will the jet be? I can't heal someone if they bleed out too much," Casey said before quickly adding, "Not that I mind being safe on the jet. I just want to make sure we increase our chances of making it out unscathed." It was her first real mission; she was rightfully worried.

"Well, it depends, if it's too far then you'll hang back from the huge fights. I think the team would probably appreciate it if our healer could remain conscious and unharmed." Steve smiled kindly, "You'll do fine."

"Right, it's just Hydra. I mean you're like a fossil and you've taken out countless of their soldiers. I'm still young and spry," Casey joked.

"You've been spending too much time with Natasha."

"What if I can't save someone? I mean, what if I don't get to them in time or... or the injury is too bad and I can't help them?" she asked, turning in her seat to face Steve.

Steve gave her a pitying look. "It'll be a quick in-and-out. We're just going to pop in, get the scepter, and pop out," he shrugged, though Casey noticed he didn't really answer the question. A couple of minutes later, Steve heard her snoring in her seat. He turned to see her curled up against her seat, drool pooling in the corner of her mouth. He smiled to himself, turning his attention to the road. He let her sleep the rest of the way, knowing she wouldn't get much sleep that night.

The next morning when they gathered for breakfast Casey was the second one up. Of course, Steve was the first. A little while later and the rest filed in.

"Ready for your first mission?" Clint asked.

"No?" Casey swallowed her stomach full of knots.

Thirty minutes later they were all ready and heading to the Hydra base in Sokovia.

Steve was running through the plan once more though Casey was too nervous to know what anyone else's part was. She just knew she would stay on the jet and monitor everything, well everything JARVIS couldn't monitor. So basically she would just sit on the jet and entertain herself in whatever way she could.

When they landed, they were a whole lot closer to the base than Casey thought they would be. They actually handed her a gun and told her to keep her eyes open.

"We got this, Casey. They're the freakin' Avengers! They got this. Everything is gonna turn out fine," she reassured herself. She figured there'd be lots of conversations with herself if this is what her job was going to be, though Casey wasn't sure she would rather be fighting.

The six of them fought their way towards the base. "They belong in an action movie" Casey whispered, of course at that moment Tony fell into an energy barrier, cursing loudly.

Steve responded with "Language!" before asking, "JARVIS, what's the view from upstairs?"

"The central building is protected by some kind of energy shield. Strucker's technology is well beyond any other Hydra base we've taken." The AI answered.

"This is it. Loki's scepter has got to be here," Casey smiled, looking forward to the whole shenanigan being behind them.

"At long last!" Thor let this hammer fly past him stepping out of fire as the hammer hit the guard in the head.

Casey could hear explosions and the grunts of guards being taken out before Natasha responded, "At long last is lasting a little long, boys!"

"I think we lost the element of surprise," Clint called, dodging a couple of shots. Casey rolled her eyes as their banter continued.

The Avengers were attacking the base.

Griffin was rocking on the balls of his feet with anticipation. Pietro was shuffling his feet. He turned to his sister. They gripped each other's hand.

"They are here," he told her, shifting his feet again.

"Wait," was all she told him. She turned to watch Griffin for a moment, he was watching Hydra's men drawing the shadows towards him.

"Send the twins."

Wanda tilted her head towards them, And Pietro raised an eyebrow. The idea was shut down by Strucker. "My soldiers can handle them."

Striker raised his voice to the men, "We will not yield. The Americans sent their circus freaks to test us. We will send them back in bags. No Surrender!"

"No surrender!" the soldiers echoed.

When they turned their backs, Wanda nodded to Pietro and gently pulled on Griffin's arm. "Go," she said, gently pushing her brother. She turned to Griffin "Ready?" Griffin nodded, pulling Wanda forward.

"We've got enhanced on the field," Steve said over the comms.

"Clint's down! Casey, how quick can you get here?" Nat called, dodging shots to try and get to him.

"uh.. soon?" Casey had not been prepared for this at all. She took off running towards Clint and Natasha.

"Somebody want to deal with that bunker?" Nat asked, doing what she could for Clint's wound. Casey heard Hulk smash the bunker and Nat mutter a thank you.

"Stark, we really need to get inside." Steve grunted, fighting off soldiers.

Casey saw a streak of blue speed towards her from the corner of her eyes "uh Nat-" she felt a fist make contact with her face; she fell to the ground. "Found the enhanced," she groaned, spitting out blood. She reached for her gun but they knocked it out of her hands.

"You're going to have to be quicker than that," a smug voice said. Definitely male with an obvious accent

"I'm closing in," Tony updated.

Casey pushed herself up from the ground, head pounding. "Nat, I don't know if I can get to you," she lunged for a stick or something to hit him with. She picked up a rock only for him to run at her again. She landed on her stomach, the air knocked out of her.

" Casey?! Casey, what's going on? Are you okay?" Nat called, hearing Casey's wheezing over the comm.

"Just peachy," Casey groaned rolling onto her back and pushing herself up again. She let out a pained noise, something was definitely broken.

"You don't stay down" He noted.

"You know..." She started breathing heavy and her words starting to slur "You waste a lot of time talking" she lunged for him again.

"I've got time to waste" he shrugged, stepping out of her way and letting her stumble into a tree. "Shouldn't you be in school?" He smirked.

"You're funny" she grunted. Knowing it was pointless, she picked up another rock and tried to hit him in the head. He stepped out of the way, allowing her to stumble forward. Unfortunately, there was a ditch where her foot landed and she fell into a tree again, "oooww!"

"The drawbridge is down" Tony informed them.

"And the enhanced?" Thor asked joining Steve.

"He's really fast, and a pain in the rear end," Casey said, searching for her gun.

"Casey do you need back up?" Steve asked.

"Just get Clint help. I can handle this." She said wiping away blood from her nose. "Probably..."

"You Avengers think you're these great heroes, saving the world. You don't see the damage you leave in your wake" The enhanced spat at her.

"Technically, not an Avenger but, you know, whatever" Casey shrugged, swaying on her feet.

He started to say something but stopped, looking over his shoulder. Casey took advantage of his momentary distraction and hit him in the face with her rock, she hadn't been expecting to get a hit in but she did. He turned to her looking. There was blood on his head, and he looked just as surprised as she was before slamming her against a tree and running back towards the base.

"Hey guys I'm just gonna..." She mumbled into the snow " Don't leave without me." she managed before passing out.

***

"Wait here" Wanda said to Griffin. He watched her step forward. Peering around her he saw Captain America hit Strucker in the face with his shield. Wanda threw the super soldier down the stairs before returning to Griffin and letting him pull her away.

Before they left, he saw Captain America watching them. "We have a second enhanced. I think she has a... hostage?" He said into his comm.

Griffin and Wanda walked into the bunker where the Chitauri tech and scepter were.

"I've got eyes on the prize" Tony said, stepping towards the scepter. Wanda ran towards him and warped his mind. Before returning to Griffin she closed her eyes, her lips moving, calling her brother. Pietro ran to his sister's side. He started to walk towards Tony but Wanda held up her hand.

"You're just going to let them take it?" He asked as they watched Tony walk around the staff. Wanda just smiled, watching him take the scepter, and both Pietro and Griffin knew not to question her.

Casey groaned as she heard Natasha say she and Clint had gotten back to the jet. Steve came running by and found her lying in the snow on her back. "You good Anderson?" he asked, noticing the snow around her was tinted red. He picked her up as she nodded and tried to wave him off. In the end, Steve won and carried her to the jet. He set her down in one of the seats and handed her some painkillers. Which she took.

"Did we get it?" Her words were slurred, her head was pounding, and everything hurt.

"Yep, one genuine scepter" Tony said proudly, "Now, care to tell us what happened to you?"

"Not really," Casey groaned, shifting in her seat trying in vain to find a comfortable position. "Oh gosh." It was then that she noticed Clint. "Hang on, I can help," she started to stand but Steve quickly stopped her.

"You will do no such thing. Clint is going to be fine, save your energy on yourself" Steve insisted, helping her sit back down.

"I'm great," Clint added, though you could hear the pain he was in.

"What happened?" Steve asked her, brow furrowed.

"One enhanced." There was a collective eye roll and Steve raised his eyebrows. "When I went out to find you guys I found the boy instead. Fun fact: being super fast gives someone a lot of momentum. I hit him in the head. With a rock" she smiled proudly at the memory.

They all exchanged a look but Casey didn't see it. After she finished her story she turned to the side and threw up next to her seat. Steve grabbed a bucket that was lying around for some unknown reason and held her hair back. After a moment of dry heaving she sat up and wiped her mouth with the towel offered to her.

"Well, thank you for not doing that all over anything important," Tony cringed. Casey was too nauseous to have a snarky comeback.

"Thor, report on the Hulk?" Nat asked, turning away from Bruce who she was trying to comfort.

Thor beamed "The gates of Hell are filled with the screams of his victims." Natasha turned and shot him a look. It took a moment for Thor to realize this was not the answer Natasha was looking for. "Uh, but, not the screams of the dead, of course. No no, uh...wounded screams, mainly whimpering, a great deal of complaining and tales of sprained deltoids and, and uh... and gout." Steve and Casey suppressed their laughter at Thor's awful attempt at a recovery.

"Not helping," Casey nudged Thor. "You did great Bruce. You had more control." Bruce smiled at her, forced, but it was there nevertheless.

"Hey Banner, Dr. Cho's on her way in from Seoul. Is it okay if she sets up in your lab?" Tony spun around in his chair to face Bruce

"Uh, yeah, she knows her way around." Bruce waved his hand dismissively clearly still distracted.

"Thanks." He turned back towards his screens " Tell her to prep everything. Barton's gonna need the full treatment."

"Very good, sir."

"It feels good, yeah? I mean, you've been after this thing since SHIELD collapsed" Tony admired the scepter before adding, "Not that I haven't enjoyed our little raiding parties, but..."

"No, but this...this brings it to a close," Thor nodded

"As soon as we find out what else this has been used for. I don't just mean weapons. Since when is Strucker capable of human enhancement?" Steve pointed out.

"Banner and I'll give it the once over before it goes back to Asgard. Is that cool with you?" Tony said. Thor nodded but Tony continued anyway, "I mean, just a few days until the farewell party. You're staying, right?"

"Yes, yes, of course. A victory should be honored with revels." Thor agreed, smiling.

"Hopefully this puts an end to the Chitauri and HYDRA, so. Yes, revels." Steve agreed.

"Who doesn't love a party?" Casey smiled dumbly, words still slurred, before she blacked out again.


	6. Ultron

When they landed Maria Hill was waiting for them. Nat wheeled Clint out to Dr. Cho while Bruce helped Casey to the lab letting her put most of her weight on him.

When they reached the land Casey laid down on one of the few empty tables and closed her eyes so she didn't have to watch the world spin.

" I just need to run a couple of tests then you can rest" Bruce assured her.

" Why? It doesn't matter" Casey flinched as he helped her sit up.

" You overestimate your ability"

" and you- gah!" She let out a stream of curses. Bruce had reached over and reset her broken nose. "Underestimate my dislike of doctors" she finished mumbling into her hand.

" Sorry" he smiled apologetically. "It's better if you don't see it coming."

"Sure it is" she grunts taking the tissues handed to her and holding it to her bleeding nose.

"That looks pretty nasty" he is talking about a gash on her forehead that he was currently cleaning.

"It'll be gone in a week" she shrugged as he placed a bandage over it.

"And the black eye?"

"Eh, gotten them before, only last a day or so"

"I'm going to talk to Steve about teaching you caution" Bruce shakes his head at her.

"Right because Steve "I'm gonna fight guys five times my size" Rogers knows so much about caution" she snorts and Bruce chuckles a little at that.

Tony came in as Bruce was finishing up and was about to clear Casey to go and rest.

"How's Clint?" She asked anxiously.

"Oh, unfortunately, he's still Barton," he shrugged.

"That's terrible," Bruce laughed softly.

"He's fine, he's thirsty, alright," Tony waved off Casey's concerned look as she left the lab to clean up and then hopefully take a nap.

On her way she passed where Dr. Cho had set up and saw Adeline pressed against Clint's gurney clutching the same stuffed bear she always had with her, listening to the conversation around her.

" You sure he's going to be okay? Pretending to need this guy really brings the team together," Natasha joked sitting across from Adeline.

"There's no possibility of deterioration. The nano-molecular functionality is instantaneous. His cells don't know they're bonding with simulacrum." Dr. Cho assures her.

Natasha nudged Adeline with her foot. "Hear that squirt? He's fine."

"She's creating tissue," Bruce's eyes widened as he watched the machine work.

" If you brought him to my lab, the regeneration Cradle could do this in twenty minutes."

" Oh, he's flatlining. Call it. Time?" Tony joked bringing in drinks.

"No, no, no I'm going to live forever. I'm gonna be made of plastic." Clint sits up with some difficulty to take the drink Tony offered him.

"You'll be made of you, Mr. Barton. Your own girlfriend won't be able to tell the difference," Dr. Cho assures him.

Tony handed Adeline a glass of chocolate milk and a plate of brownies. "Don't tell your mother," he stage whispered to her. She smiled a little.

"Thank you."

"Well, I don't have a girlfriend," Clint said. Adeline made a funny face into her milk but didn't say anything.

"That I can't fix. This is the next thing, Tony. Your clunky metal suits are going to be left in the dust" Dr. Cho continued proudly.

"Well, that is exactly the plan. And Helen, I expect to see you at the party on Saturday."

"Unlike you, I don't have a lot of time for parties," She paused." Will Thor be there?"

After cleaning up Casey crashed on the couch, she had planned on getting some class work done for her online classes but that wasn't happening as long as the pounding in her head refused to leave.

"Hey Casey do you have a moment?" Steve asked.

"Uh... yeah sure. What do you need?" She leaned her head against the back of the couch so she could see Steve who was standing behind her, which was a mistake.

"I have a file on the three enhanced I thought you might want to read through in case we run into them again" he walked around to sit next to her on the couch.

"Three? I thought it was only two?"

"The 'hostage', he was actually a third enhance." Steve said " Are you doing okay?" Casey didn't respond she just stared at her hands. "It's not your fault, Clint is going to be fine, you did good" he told her.

"My job is to heal people not get beaten up by overly confident Hydra experiments"

"None of us were prepared for the enhanced, we were all taken by surprise"

She didn't say anything in response and after a moment he left and she turned to the file flipping through it a little before falling asleep.

Over the next three days Tony and Bruce practically lived in their labs, only coming out when it was absolutely necessary. No one knew what they were working on, except that it had something to do with Loki's scepter.

At the end of the third day was Tony's party. Casey, technically being an adult member of the team, was required to go. She didn't really mind, she had nothing against parties.

She spent a majority of the party wandering around chatting with people she'd never met before. After the party, it was just the team sitting on couches around a table, drinking and talking . Adeline and Elijah had come out from wherever they had been hiding out and now sat with the rest of the team and their parents.

" But, it's a trick!" Clint gestured towards Thor's hammer with the drum sticks he had been messing with.

" Oh, no. It's much more than that," Thor laughed, passing Steve a drink.

"Uh, 'Whosoever be he worthy shall haveth the power!' " Clint saId in a deep voice like he was in an old play "Whatever man! It's a trick."

"Well please, be my guest."

"Come on," Tony urges.

"Really?"

"Yeah" Thor shrugs

"Oh this is gonna be beautiful." Rhodes chuckles as Clint stands

"Clint, you've had a tough week, we won't hold it against you if you can't get it up. " Tony says, causing the others to laugh.

"You know I've seen this before, right?" Clint tries and, to no one's surprise, fails." I still don't know how you do it." he laughs still straining to pick it up.

"Smell the silent judgment?" Tony asked with a smirk.

"Please, Stark, by all means."

Tony, never one to turn down a challenge, shrugged and walked over to try

"Oh, here we go." Natasha says sitting forward.

Adeline leaned over too Casey "do you hear that?" she asked

"Hear what?" Casey frowned still watching Tony.

"Oh.. never mind" Adeline leaned back against her brother who was watching her closely "I thought I heard one of the iron legions it's nothing"

"It's physics," Tony reasoned gripping the hammer.

"Physics!" Bruce laughed

" Right, so, if I lift it, I...I then rule Asgard?"

"If" Casey emphasized

"Yes, of course." Thor said, clearly humoring him.

"He ain't going to be able to lift it" Casey said to Natasha as Stark made some snarky comment.

"No he isn't" Natasha agreed as Tony tried and failed to lift the hammer from the coffee table.

"I'll be right back." Tony gets one of his iron gloves eventually he gets Rhodes to help as well.

"Are you even pulling?" Rhodes asked.

"Are you on my team?" Tony replied.

"Just represent! Pull!"

"Alright, let's go!"

After Tony and Rhodes fail to get the Hammer. Bruce tried but with no luck. Steve managed to get the hammer to wobble and Thor visibly pales, but he couldn't pick it up either.

"Widow?" Bruce asks

"Oh, no no. That's not a question I need answered."

"All deference to the man who wouldn't be king, but it's rigged." Tony gestures to the hammer.

"You bet your a-"Clint starts but Nat shoot him a pointed look and glances at Adeline.

"Steve, he almost said a bad language word," Hill joked.

" Did you tell everyone about that?" Steve shook his head and Casey fells back onto the couch laughing.

"You ain't ever living that one down" She informed him leaning over the arm of the couch

" The handle's imprinted, right? Like a security code. 'Whosoever is carrying Thor's fingerprints' is, I think, the literal translation?" Tony continues ignoring Steve.

"Yes, well that's, uh, that's a very, very interesting theory. I have a simpler one." Thor said standing and grabbing his hammer. "You're all not worthy."

"The noise" Adeline said suddenly jumping up.

"Addie?" Elijah carefully reached for his sister

" Worthy... " it was one of the iron legions dragging itself into the room "No... How could you be worthy? You're all killers."

"Stark." Steve prompted.

"JARVIS." Tony doesn't take his eyes off of the suite.

" I'm sorry, I was asleep. Or...I was a-dream?" The suit continued to turning like it was trying to understand where it was.

"Reboot, Legionnaire OS, we got a buggy suit," Tony said into one of his tablets

"There was a terrible noise...and I was tangled in... in...strings." The suit holds up what is left of its arms like they were tangled in something "I had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy."

" You killed someone?" Steve asked while gesturing for Casey to get Elijah and Adeline out.

"Wouldn't have been my first call. But, down in the real world we're faced with ugly choices."

Casey slowly reached over towards Adeline and Elijah pushing them behind her and slowly stepping backwards while Thor asked:

"Who sent you?"

"I see a suit of armor around the world" it was a recording of Tony.

"Ultron!" Bruce whispered in a mix of awe and horror .

"In the flesh. Or, no, not yet." it looked down at its mangled form "Not this...chrysalis. But I'm ready. I'm on a mission." he continued. Casey noticed hill grabbing a gun.

" What mission?" Natasha asked suspiciously

"Peace in our time." more of the iron legions came bursting into the room.

"Casey get them out of here!" Evelyn called, pointing to her kids before grabbing a knife she must have hidden and lunging at the closest suit of armor.

One of the suits fires in their direction. Casey jerked the two to the floor as the shot flew over them and rubble fell against Casey's back.

"You okay Casey" Maria called

"Just great" She hollered back. She stood and grabbed another gun hidden in the coffee table. "Lets go" she ushered Elijah and Adeline. They only made it a couple of steps before one of the suits grabbed Casey. Another one went after Adeline and Elijah. Casey managed to twist herself so she could fire the gun at the bot and after a couple shots she finally hit something important and it went limp. She turned to help Elijah and Adeline but Elijah had already managed to run a metal bar through suit. "Good job" she said mildly impressed.

"That was dramatic! " Ultron says and Casey realized that was all of them. "I'm sorry, I know you mean well. You just didn't think it through. You want to protect the world, but you don't want it to change. How is humanity saved if it's not allowed to...evolve? "He picks up a discarded ligionier " With these? These puppets? There's only one path to peace: The Avengers' extinction." Thor threw his hammer through it but it started singing its disembodied voice echoing through the halls "I had strings, but now I'm free. There are no strings on me, no strings on me. "

They managed to get everyone to the lab. Casey could feel the bruises on her back from the rubble. She pulled a piece of glass from her leg and took the bandage offered to her. Both Evelyn and Maria held tweezers, Maria for the glass in her feet, Evelyn for the glass in David's shoulder. Tony was staring blankly at one of his suits and Bruce was busy trying to find out what happened

"All our work is gone. Ultron cleared out, used the internet as an escape hatch." Bruce said from behind a screen.

" Ultron." Steve echoed.

"He's been in everything. Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we know about each other." Nat leaned against the wall, watching them work.

"He's in your files, he's in the internet. What if he decided to access something a little more exciting?" Rhodes asked.

"Nuclear codes." Maria supplied.

"Nuclear codes. Look, we need to make some calls, assuming we still can."

" Nukes? He said he wanted us dead." Nat said.

" He didn't say dead. He said _extinct_ " Steve pointed out.

"He also said he killed somebody" Clint spoke up.

"But there wasn't anyone else in the building."Maria looked up from pulling glass out of her foot.

"Yes there was." Tony looked up before grabbing a tablet and bringing up a 3D model of what once was JARVIS

"This is insane." Bruce said examining the model

"JARVIS was the first line of defense. He would've shut Ultron down, it makes sense." Steve pointed out

"No, Ultron could've assimilated JARVIS. This isn't a strategy, this is...rage." Bruce shook his head. Thor walked in lifting Tony up by his neck.

"Woah, woah, woah! It's going around" Clint took a step back away from Thor.

" Come on. Use your words, buddy." Tony choked out.

"I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark." Thor bellowed

"Thor! The Legionnaire" Steve said

"Trail went cold about a hundred miles out but it's headed north, and it has the scepter. Now we have to retrieve it, again" Thor stated.

"The genie's out of that bottle. Clear and present is Ultron." Natasha came to see what they where looking at

" I don't understand. You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us? " Dr. Cho spoke up.

"I would also like to have that clarified as well" Casey agreed feeling very lost and confused.

Tony started to laugh, ignoring Bruce's attempts to get him to knock it off.

"He's lost it" Elijah stared at him wide eyed

" You think this is funny?" Thor snapped

"No. It's probably not, right? Is this very terrible? Is it so...is it so...it is. It's so terrible." Tony said trying to stop.

"This could've been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand."

"No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It is funny. It's a hoot that you don't get why we need this."

" Tony, maybe this might not be the time to..." Bruce started

" Really?! That's it? You just roll over, show your belly, every time somebody snarls." Tony turned to Bruce

" Only when I've created a murder bot."

" We didn't. We weren't even close. Were we close to an interface?"

"Well, you did something right. And you did it right here. The Avengers were supposed to be different than SHIELD." Steve said

"You created a murderous robot. Whether you meant to or not it's out there now" David interjected.

" Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?"

"No, it's never come up." Rhodes said sarcastically.

" Saved New York?"

"Never heard that."

"Recall that? A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing three hundred feet below it. We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the livelong day, but that up there? That's...that's the end game. How were you guys planning on beating that?"

"Together." Steve answered

"We'll lose."

"Then we'll do that together, too. Thor's right. Ultron's calling us out. And I'd like to find him before he's ready for us. The world's a big place. Let's start making it smaller."

"You realize this could take a while" Casey said, " you don't have SHIELD to feed you information any more"

"Then we better get crackin'."


	7. Let's Destroy the Avengers

After the Avengers stole the staff the three enhanced had traveled to a nearby town. Griffin wasn't entirely sure what they were doing, but Wanda said they needed to go to an old and abandoned church in the center of the town, to talk with someone. Pietro had stolen some food for the three of them and after eating Griffin had set out to explore the town.

It had been over a year since he had been out in an actual town. He wandered aimlessly not really paying much attention with no real plan of when to start heading back, at least that was until an older woman started asking too many question, he decided there was no time like the present and ran most of the way back. When he came back he found the twins were talking in hushed voices and he knew they would stop talking as soon as he came back so he sat just around the corner listening, usually Wanda would of felt someone so close but Griffin had spent the last six months learning to hide from her.

"Do you think they'll come after us?" Pietro asked Wanda.

"They will be too busy celebrating their victory" It was clear that she thought very little of the Avengers simply from the venom in that one statement.

"This man, he can help us?"

"If he can't we will destroy them ourselves."

That seemed to be the end of their discussion so Griffin stood and continued towards them.

"You're back. Good we need to leave" Wanda said when he rejoined them.

She continued to lead them to the church, breaking the lock on the gate before heading in. When they entered the church they could see the silhouette of a person sitting in a chair but the chair was turned away from them

"Talk, and if you are wasting our time..." Wanda threatened .

"Did you know this church is in the exact center of the city? The elders decreed it so that everyone could be equally close to God. I like that. The geometry of belief," They seemed unfazed by Wades threats, which perplexed Griffin they seemed to know so much about the three of them how could they not be scared of Wanda? "You're wondering why you can't look inside my head." he was wearing some sort of cloak over his head but Griffin could see metal limbs

"Sometimes it's hard. But sooner or later, every man shows himself."

"Oh, I'm sure they do, " he said, only as he stood Griffin realized it wasn't a he it wasn't even a person, it was robot "But you needed something more than a man. That's why you let Stark take the scepter."

"I didn't expect." She nodded towards the metal man But I saw Stark's fear, I knew it would control him, make him self-destruct."

"Everyone creates the thing they dread. Men of peace create engines of war, invaders create avengers, people create...smaller people? Uh...children! I lost the word there." it chuckled, which if Griffin was being honest scared him... a lot. "Children. Designed to supplant them, to help them...end."

" Is that why you've come? To end the Avengers?" Wanda asked intrigued.

"I've come to save the world, but also, yeah," It shrugged."I'll give you a moment to decide,"

Wanda pulled Pietro over to Griffin. " We should go with him,7" she spoke up.

Pietro looked at Griffin, not wanting to drag the eleven year old on a mission for revenge if he didn't want to come. Griffin put on his best brave as the twins studied him.

"An end to the Avengers? Sounds great" he smiled his voice only slightly shaky.

The twins made eye contact Wanda no doubt communicating with Pietro telepathically.

 _It would end Stark._ Wanda said simply as if that was all she needed to make up her mind, though Pietro knew there was more logic behind his sister's decision.

 _And Griffin?_ He asked.

_We aren't leaving him, he is strong he can fight, even if he couldn't we will be with him._

Pietro nodded before the three of them turned back to Ultron.

"I assume you are coming?" he smiled and it terrified Griffin.

He took them back to the Hydra base leading them to the bunker that held the Chitauri tech.

"We'll move out right away. This is a start, but there's something we need to begin the real work."

"All of these are... All of these are..." Wanda gestured to all the bots moving around the bunker. Griffin took a step closer to Pietro on instinct, one scary robot was okay, a whole bunker full of enough of them to efficiently level several cities...less okay. He really hoped Wanda was right.

"Me, " Ultron finishes "I have what the Avengers never will. Harmony. They're discordant, disconnected. Stark's already got them turning on each other. And when you get inside the rest of their heads..."

"Everyone's plan is not to kill them." Pietro steps in shaking his head.

" And make them martyrs?"Ultron asked "You need patience. Need to see the big picture."

"I don't see the big picture, I have a little picture. I take it out and look at it every day," Wanda was watching her brother now.

"You lost your parents in the bombings. I've seen the record, " Ultron nodded

" The records are not the picture." Pietro steps forward again.

"Pietro" Wanda started

"No, please" Ultron motions for him to continue

Pietro looked at Wanda like he was talking to her. "We were ten years old, having dinner, the four of us. When the first shell hits, two floors below, it makes a hole in the floor. It's big. Our parents go in, and the whole building starts coming apart. I grab her, roll under the bed and the second shell hits. But, it doesn't go off. It just...sits there in the rubble, three feet from our faces. And on the side of the shell is painted one word..."

"Stark" Wanda finishes for him her eyes flashing red and her voice filled with bitterness

" We were trapped two days."

"Every effort to save us, every shift in the bricks, I think, 'This will set it off.' We wait for two days for Tony Stark to kill us." Wanda nodded towards Griffin who had been watching the two of them intently.

"I know what they are."

"I wondered why you two survived Strucker's experiments. Now I don't. We will make it right. You and I can hurt them." He turned to Wanda "But you will tear them apart, from the inside"

Griffin wasn't a huge fan of how that sounded.

* * *

"He's all over the globe," Maria said as Adeline re-entered the lab she had gone to the kitchen in search of food and had come back with several boxes of pop tarts. "Robotics labs, weapons facilities, jet propulsion labs, reports of a metal man, or men, coming in and emptying the place."

" Fatalities?" Steve asked as Adeline walked over to him offering a pop tart he politely shook his head no, and she turned and offered one too Casey who smiled and took it, Adeline then continued around the room offering one to every team member before sitting on the floor between her parents, her brother sat on the floor engrossed in a video game.

"Only when engaged. Mostly guys left in a fugue state going on about old memories, worst fears, something too fast to see and an unnatural darkness." She said over her shoulder still looking at her screen

"The enhanced ?" Casey looked up quickly frowning

"Well, that makes sense he'd go to them, they have someone in common," Steve adds

" Not anymore" Maria passed her tablet to Steve. It was a picture of Struker's dead body lying in his cell the word 'peace' written in all caps in his blood.

"That's... that's really gross" Casey wrinkled her nose looking away.

" Barton, we might have something." Steve called to Barton who was out in the hall on the phone "Who was that?"

"Girlfriend" he answered taking the pop tart Adeline offered him.

"Still really disgusting" Casey grumbled turning away from the blown up picture of Strucker. 

"What's this?" Tony asked

"A message. Ultron killed Strucker" Steve spoke up as Thor passed the tablet to bruce, a little rougher than necessary.

"And he did a Banksy at the crime scene, just for us."

"This is a smokescreen. Why send a message when you've just given a speech?" Natasha says ever the logical one.

"Strucker knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss." Steve continues building off of what Nat had said.

"Yeah, I bet he... " Nat starts looking down at a monitor to check something " Yep. Everything we had on Strucker has been erased."

" Not everything" Tony says standing up. Ten minutes later and the team is standing in a room full of boxes of papers, and filing cabinets.

"Oh joy, i thought my day was missing something" Casey groans sliding off the counter she was sitting on and landing on the floor. She picked up a stack of papers dramatically holding them at arms length. " I told myself, you know what this day needs ,Casey, paperwork, yep going through lots of paperwork would just make my day."

"Glad we could help make your day kiddo" David jokes picking up part of a stack.

They spent the next hour or so just going through the papers, Adeline got bored after twenty minutes and left to wander the tower, Casey wished she could follow her, unfortunately being part of the Avengers meant that when evil murder bots deleted all Tony Stark's digital files, she had to help go through all of his physical files.

"Known associates" Steve read aloud.

"Finally!" Casey said earning an eye roll from Natasha

"Well, Strucker had a lot of friends." Steve continued smiling at Casey, who was still lying on the floor papers thrown dramatically around her.

"Well, these people are all horrible." Bruce said monotoned.

"What did you expect? It's Strucker" Casey rolled her eyes sitting up. Her pink hair falling over her face.

" Wait. I know that guy," Tony says taking the photo from Bruce "From back in the day. He operates off the African coast, black market arms" Tony studies the photo, not missing Steve's accusing look. "There are conventions, alright? You meet people, I didn't sell him anything. He was talking about finding something new, a game changer, it was all very 'Ahab.'"

"What's with the marking?" Casey asked leaning over Tony's shoulder.

"Uh, it's a tattoo. I don't think he had it..."

"No, those are tattoos, this is a brand" Thor pointed out as Bruce started typing at his computer,

"Oh, yeah. It's a word in an African dialect meaning thief, in a much less friendly way." He reads off the screen

"What dialect?" David ask

"Wakanada...? Wa...Wa...Wakanda."

"If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods..." Tony started

"I thought your father said he got the last of it?" Steve asked. The rest looked on with confusion

"I don't follow. What comes out of Wakanda?" Bruce ask walking back over to them.

"The strongest metal on earth." Steve says looking at his shield.

"Where is this guy now?"

"I'll find out" Bruce says turning back to his screen

" Everyone else suit up" Steve ordered. Casey let out a dramatic sigh as she left to get ready to leave." Hey Casey think you could fight?"

"You don't want me to stay on the jet?"

"Your still staying on the jet, but you'll be with Banner if we get a code green you'll have to go out on the field"

"Yeah, I'm good to fight" Casey smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This work was originally on Wattpad, it still is i'm just now posting on both! It will update every other Sunday, starting next Sunday so that the update dates are the same on both platforms! If you see an mistakes please let me know! Thanks for reading :D


	8. Shopping for Vibranium

They were at a salvage yard off the coast of Africa. Griffin wasn’t entirely sure what was going on but he followed the twins nonetheless. Wanda turned to him. “ Can you find Klaue’s office on your own? We are going to shut everything down.” Griffin nodded, stepping back into the shadows. Wanda turned to Pietro who picked her up and ran off. They arrived a couple minutes after Griffin stepped out of the shadows.

“It’s dark,” Griffin smiled. Pietro looked at him, briefly confused, before shrugging and turning back to his sister.

“Ready?” He asked. Wanda nodded in response. They could hear Klaue finish up a phone call as they stepped in.

Klaue picked up his gun and fired. Pietro disarmed him and lined up all his bullets before the bullet left the barrel and stood in front of his arms crossed.

“Yeah. The enhanced. Strucker's prize pupils,” Klaue says sitting down and turning to pick up a bowl of candy “Want a candy?” When they just stared at him he set the plate back down with a shrug. “Oh, sorry to hear about Strucker.” Griffin didn’t think he sounded very sorry. “But then, he knew what kind of world he was helping create. Human life, not a growth market,'' The twins exchanged a confused look Griffin just stared at him “You...you didn't know? Is this your first time intimidating someone? I'm afraid that I'm not that afraid.”

“Everybody's afraid of something,” Wanda interjected, stepping forward.

“Cuttlefish,” Klaue starts.

“He’s insane,” Griffin muttered to Wanda.

“Deep sea fish. They make lights. disco lights. Whoom, whoom, whoom! to hypnotize their prey, then whoom!” Klaue continued, ignoring Griffin “I saw a documentary, it was terrifying,” Pietro speed towards Klaue’s desk. Klaue flinched, probably expecting an attack, but Pietro just grabbed a piece of candy from the bowl and returned to his sister’s side. “So if you're going to fiddle with my brain, and make me see a giant cuttlefish, then I know you don't do business, and I know you're not in charge,” Griffin could feel both the twins tense next to him, “and I only deal with the man in charge. “

Ultron crashes through the window landing with his metal foot pressed to Klaue’s throat. “There is no ‘man’ in charge, let's talk business.”

Griffin followed the twins, who were following Ultron and Klaue. “ Do you think the Avengers will come?” He whispered

“I hope so,” Wanda said. Pietro just shrugged, before slowing his pace to walk with Griffin. They didn’t say anything, they just continued to walk in silence until they arrived at the vault.

“You know, it came at great, personal cost. It's worth billions.” Klaue informed them as Ultron inspected the vibranium.

“Now, so are you. It's all under your dummy holdings? Finance is so weird, but I always say, “Keep your friends rich and your enemies rich, and wait to find out which is which."

“ Stark,” Klaue said looking up from his phone, eyes widening.

“What?” Ultron looks away from the vibranium.

“ Tony Stark used to say that...to me,” he stepped back, reaching for his gun. “You're one of his.”

“What?! I'm not...!” Ultron started lifting Klaue up by his arm. “I'm not. You think I'm one of Stark's puppets, his hollow men? I mean look at me, do I look like Iron Man? Stark is nothing!” He yelled chopping Klaue’s arm off with his hands. Griffin jumped back pressing himself against the twins and who watched Ultron wide eyed.

“I'm sorry. I am sor... Ooh, I'm sure that's going to be okay. I'm sorry, it's just I don't understand. Don't compare me with Stark! He's a sickness!” He kicked him down the stairs.

Tony Stark burst through the ceiling.“ Ahh, Junior. You're gonna break your old man's heart”

“If I have to,” Ultron shrugged, turning around to face the Avengers.

“We don't have to break anything,” Thor said stepping forward.

“ Clearly you've never made an omelet.”

“He beat me by one second,” Tony said to Thor

“Ah, this is funny, Mr. Stark. It's what, comfortable? Like old times?” Pietro said glancing down at a missile.

“This was never my life,” Tony followed his gaze.

“You three can still walk away from this,” Captain America said to the three enhanced. Griffin watched him, confused.

“Oh, we will,” Wanda taunted.

“ I know you've suffered.” He continued.

“Uuughh! Captain America. God's righteous man, pretending you could live without a war. I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but…” Ultron waved his hand to illustrate his point.

“If you believe in peace, then let us keep it,” Thor stepped in.

“I think you're confusing peace with quiet,” Ultron walked forward a couple paces.

“Yuh-huh. What's the Vibranium for?” Tony nodded towards them.

“I'm glad you asked that, because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan! “ Ultron waved his hand while he spoke, charging it up before blading Stark with it.

The two of them lunged at each other; metal scraping metal and glass shattering everywhere, while the iron legions attacked the other Avengers. Both twins joined the fighting while Griffin did his best to keep the Avengers distracted, which was still the plan. Klaue’s men started firing at both sides of the fight.

“You ready?”Wanda asked Griffin who nodded eagerly.

“Guys is it a code green!” Bruce tried again, “They’re not picking up” he turned to Casey who was anxiously fiddling with the controls.

“ I can go see if they need help, they may not be expecting me,” She offered.

“Not happening, not yet. You going on the field is a last resort” he tried again on the comm but was met by static.

Griffin reached the Quintjet first, and stood outside waiting for the twins, unsure of what was taking them so long.

“Bruce… is it just me or are the shadows moving…” Casey stood walking towards the entrance. Bruce, who was closer, got there first stepping outside.

Wanda Maximoff walked up beside him, warping his mind. Bruce stumbled back.

“Bruce… Bruce stop you’re better than this, come on you can fight it, don’t let her control you” Casey took a couple slow steps forward. Pietro stood in front of her. “Get out of my way” she said, reaching for her gun.

He raised an eyebrow, ”or what...” he took her gun, throwing it to the side, “still too slow, you heal fast” he waved a hand at her face.

“Your head looks pretty nasty” Casey smirked. There was a cut running along the side of his head, it was definitely healing faster than it would on any normal person. Still slower than her cuts Casey noted.

He glared at her as Wanda walked up behind her, trying to warp her mind. Darkness flicked across her vision. Casey turned and punched her in the face; watching as Pietro rushed to his sister’s side, throwing Casey against the side of the ship “Fast healing applies to my mind so you’re gonna have to try harder than that.”

Her victory was short lived though because the shadows were definitely moving. Darkness rushed through her vision and the nightmares took over. The last thing she saw was Bruce going full Hulk and charging out of the ship.

“You did good,” Wanda smiled at Griffin, ruffling his hair. He waved her hand away, suppressing a smile. They were on their way to Korea now. Wanda sat between Pietro and Griffin. Pietro was bouncing his legs absentmindedly. Ultron had to wait there and try not to break anything.

“Casey” Steve knelt over her. They had found her lying on the floor curled into a ball. She had a lump forming on her forehead from falling. She kept calling out that it wasn’t her fault. “Come on Casey we’re at a safe house, you’re safe, wake up” he gently shook her shoulder.

She jerked up “I couldn’t, I couldn’t save them” she sobbed. Steve pulled her into a hug. “I’m sorry” she whispered over and over.

“ It was just a dream, Cas, you’re okay, everyone is okay,” he reassured her gently.

Casey pulled back.”Where are we?”

“Not sure. Clint said it was a safe house” Steve shrugged helping Casey up.

“It’s… a farmhouse?” Casey found it odd how quiet and peaceful it was after coming from a fight, even if she had done absolutely nothing, again.

“I’m home!” Clint called. Casey watched him, wondering who he was waiting for, until a golden-furred dog came running down the stairs. “Make yourselves at home... the fridge should have food that’s not past its expiration date.”

“Err, do you have anywhere we could shower?” Casey asked, looking at the mud streaked across her arms. She could feel the dried blood in her hair.

“Yeah. Down the hall to the left is a guest bedroom connected to a bathroom with a shower,” Clint stopped petting the dog long enough to point towards the hall.

As she walked down the hall. She noticed how oddly homey it felt. She found the guest bedroom, grabbing a towel from the closet. She took a quick shower, knowing the others were in far greater need for one, and changed before heading back out to the kitchen.

“There isn’t really much to eat” Nat said from where she sat on the kitchen counter.

Casey nodded still dazed from her encounter with the twins. “Who are they?” She asked, pointing to a framed photo of a woman with three kids.

“Ex-wife. They are on good terms but the pressure of Clint’s job...” She didn’t finish the rest of her thought but Casey got the gist of it. “She is remarried now, nice man. Clint still loves his kids to bits” Nat hopped off the counter. “Want to go with me to get take out for the team? We can take Clint’s car.”

“You know how much food we are going to need to feed all of us?” Casey raised an eyebrow at her.

“More food then Clint ever has,” Nat offers with a tired smile.

Casey shrugs,“ I’m not driving.”

“There’s a great Mexican restaurant not too far from here. If you call in the order while I drive it should be a pretty short wait. I wrote down all their orders in my phone.”

The Mexican restaurant was a fifteen minute drive from Clint’s house. The waiter at the front told them their order should be out in 10 minutes. They sat at an empty table while they waited. Natasha started a game, making up stories about the people around them. It ended with both of them laughing so hard Casey started to snort when the scrawny high schooler who they had decided was a prince from a far off place, caught them watching him and winked at Casey. They had needed waiters to bring them food, one asked if they were having a high school sports team over. Casey had laughed again, telling him it was something like that.

On their way back they sang at the top of their lungs to crappy pop songs that neither of them really knew the words too and tried to guess the next song.

When they got back they sat in the car for a moment, neither of them ready to step out of the car and face their problems.

“I hate being an ‘adult’,” Casey groaned sinking further into her seat.

Natasha snorted “You’re still in high school, I don’t care if you're 18; you're still a kid.”

“Thanks for taking me with you to get take out, it was fun.”

“Least I can do, especially since it’s my fault you have to deal with this,” Natasha looked at her lap guiltily.

“I am ready Nat, both you and Evelyn said it; and your right, I _am_ ready”

“We could all use your confidence” Nat smiled after a moment, grabbing half of the bags of take out.

“Fake it till you make it. Come on Nat, basic SHIELD training” Casey joked half heartedly. She picked up the remaining bags.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are on chapter eight! I feel like my chapter names are getting worse and worse. Hope you guys had a great Valentine's Day! Thanks for reading! :D


	9. Casey Fails to Make Friend, Who Can Blame Her?

"We're back!" Natasha yelled into the empty entryway.

"We come bearing gifts!" Casey added, as Clint's dog comes running around the corner excitedly sniffing at the take-out bags, tail wagging excitedly.

"In the kitchen!" Tony hollered.

"At least Lucky came to say hi. Didn't you boy?" Nat said to the dog. Casey never thought Natasha Romanov would be one to talk to dogs in the same tone most people did yet here they were.

When they entered the kitchen Casey decided she should probably stop being surprised by things. She is on a first name bases with the Avengers, murder bots that no one meant to create exist, Clint had a family, Nat talks dumbly to dogs, Nick Fury randomly shows up at a safe house unannounced after hearing nothing from him in months. What was the point of being surprised anymore?

After a moment of shock Casey just shrugged and continued into the kitchen. " 'Sup boss." She dropped her bags on the table claiming a couple tacos before Bruce and Steve ate them all, stupid increased metabolism. "Where's goldie locks?"

"Thor had some stuff to take care of elsewhere," Fury spoke from where he stood at the sink.

"That's vague," She smirked. She hadn't really expected anything else.

Once everyone had grabbed some food from the take-out bags Fury continued.

"Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time. My contacts all say he's building something," he said. "The amount of Vibranium he made off with, I don't think it's just one thing."

"What about Ultron himself?" Steve asked, leaning against the entryway.

"Ah. He's easy to track, he's everywhere. Guy's multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit. Still doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans though."

"He is still going after launch codes?" Tony asked, throwing a dart at the dart board hung up in the hallway.

"Yes, he is, but he's not making any headway," Fury said, leaning against the counter.

"I cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare," Tony threw another dart.

"Yeah, well, I contacted our friends at the NEXUS about that."

"NEXUS?" Steve asked.

"It's the world internet hub in Oslo, every byte of data flows through there, fastest access on earth," Bruce answered, looking down at his hands.

"So what'd they say?" Clint picked up a dart, examining it carefully.

"He's fixated on the missiles, but the codes are constantly being changed"

"By whom?" Tony asked, moments before a dart flies by his face.

"Parties unknown," Fury raised an eyebrow at Clint who shrugged, smirking a little.

"Do we have an ally?" Natasha intejected.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend right?" Casey added.

"Ultron's got an enemy, that's not the same thing," Fury waved his tea glass at them. "Still, I'd pay folding money to know who it is."

"I might need to visit Oslo, find our 'unknown.'" Tony stepped forward, abandoning his game of darts.

"Well, this is good times, boss, but I was kind of hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that." Natasha leaned back in her chair.

"I do, I have you." Fury spread his arms out. "Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere. Ears, everywhere else. You kids had all the tech you could dream up. Here we all are, back on Earth, with nothing but our wit and our will to save the world. Ultron says the Avengers are the only thing between him and his mission. And whether or not he admits it, his mission is global destruction. All this," he looked around at the team "laid in a grave. So stand. Outwit the platinum bastard..."

"Steve doesn't like that kind of talk." Nat smirked.

"You know what, Romanoff?" Steve started, smiling back.

"So what does he want?" Fury asked in the same tone Casey's teachers would use when they had to explain something several times because their students weren't paying attention. Not that Casey would know; she definitely paid attention in all her classes.

"Besides global destruction?" Casey asked.

"To become better. Better than us. He keeps building bodies." Steve supplied.

"Person bodies. The human form is inefficient, biologically speaking, we're outmoded. But he keeps coming back to it." Tony elaborated.

"When you two programmed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed," Nat said, watching Bruce who was intently studying a butterfly painting on Clint's fridge. Casey assumed it was from one of his kids.

"They don't need to be protected, they need to evolve. Ultron's going to evolve." Bruce quoted, still staring at the painting.

"How?" Fury prompted.

"Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?" Bruce looked up from the painting to watch all of their faces.

"No? Why?" Casey looked at him, praying she wasn't the only one completely lost.

"If Ultron wants to build a biological body-" Bruce started.

"Dr. Cho's regeneration cradle!" Casey tapped her forehead finally catching on. "We need to check on her. If Ultron is there we can stop him, get a step ahead."

"Slow down, Cas we don't know he is there," Tony reminded her.

"Right..." Casey flushed red.

"We'll split up" Tony said.

"You heard Tony: everyone suit up!" Steve motioned for them to go.

"I'll take Natasha, Casey and Clint." Steve said to Tony while grabbing his shield.

Tony walked in, adjusting his watch "Alright, strictly recon. I'll hit the NEXUS, I'll join you as soon as I can."

"If Ultron is really building a body..." Steve started.

Tony stopped walking to look at him. "He'll be more powerful than any of us. Maybe all of us. An android designed by a robot."

"You know I really miss the days when the weirdest thing science ever created was me."

"I'll drop Banner off at the tower. Do you mind if I borrow Ms. Hill?" Fury asked Tony, shrugging on his coat.

"She's all yours, apparently. What are you gonna do?"

"I don't know. Something dramatic, I hope." a smile dashed across Fury's face.

"Oh fun!" Casey smiled, sliding up next to Steve. "Socks on hardwood makes getting places a lot more fun" She explained when Steve raised an eyebrow at her.

"You are a terrible role model for children" Steve shook his head at her

"I am a wonderful role model, old man" She snorted.

***

They had been in Korea for several hours with nothing to do. Wanda was fidgeting with her rings, and Pietro had found a hacky sack in some drawer. He and Griffin had started a game. Between Pietro's speed and Griffin's dark portals the hacky sack had yet to touch the ground; whether or not that was the object of the game neither of them were sure. Every so often Wanda would half-heartedly try and throw them off or interject that she was pretty sure they were cheating.

"Come up stairs," one of Ultron's robots said suddenly.

Griffin jumped, having been so absorbed in his game he forgot they were there. It had been a glorious half hour.

"We are coming," Wanda stood and brought the hacky sack to her. Pietro ran and stole it back from her while Griffin dragged his feet to follow.

"Cellular cohesion will take a few hours," Doctor Cho was explaining as Griffin reached the lab where the cradle was held. She plugged large cables into Ultron's head while continuing "But we can initiate the consciousness stream. We're uploading your cerebral matrix...now."

Griffin followed Wanda as she walked slowly in. Pietro watched everyone around him, uninterested until Wanda started to speak. "I can read him. He is dreaming."

"Oh I wouldn't call it dreams. " Dr. Cho smiled from where she was standing by a screen. "It's Ultron's base consciousness, informational noise. Soon..."

"How soon?" Ultron asked before quickly adding, " I'm not being pushy."

"We're imprinting a physical brain." Dr Cho started to explain. Griffin saw Wanda walk towards the cradle placing her hands over it "There are no shortcuts. Even if your magic gem is..." Wanda jerked back, screaming. Pietro rushed forward to her checking to make sure she was uninjured. Griffin watched Ultron warily, if he wasn't scared of him before he definitely was now.

"How could you?" Wanda's voice broke and she watched Ultron with horror-filled eyes.

"How could I what?" Ultron looked bored, like he couldn't care less. Pietro motioned for Griffin to get ready to leave.

"You...you said we would destroy the Avengers, make a better world." Wanda stuttered.

"It will be better." He said it like it was obvious, like he shouldn't have had to justify killing the whole planet

"When everyone is dead?"

"That is not...!" Ultron snapped. "The human race will have every opportunity to improve."

"And if they don't?" Pietro asked, his voice filled with the same horror as his sister; they hadn't signed up for this.

"Ask Noah." Ultron said simply.

"You're a madman," Wanda watched him like she got it, like it all made sense. Griffin was still completely and utterly lost.

"There were more than a dozen extinction level events before even the dinosaurs got theirs. When the Earth starts to settle, God throws a stone at it, and believe me, he's winding up. We have to evolve. There's no room for the weak."

Wanda waved her hand at Dr. Cho while he was distracted. "And who decides who's weak?" Pietro asked.

"Life." He chuckled. Pietro motioned for Griffin to move further back, Griffin was all too happy to do so. "Life always decides. There's incoming," Ultron stood. Pietro turned to Wanda, placing a kiss against her temple. "The Quinjet. We have to move."

"That's not a problem," Dr. Cho stepped forward, typing on her computer. The twins both turned towards her at the same time as Ultron. She paused the download a moment before Ultron blasted her in the shoulder. Pietro picked up Wanda before running out of the building, shoving Griffin into the shadows. Griffin heard him yelling at them but he didn't dare open his eyes until he felt Wanda's rings pressed against his face.

"You with us?" She asked, her expression the closest to concern he had ever seen her, at least when she was not looking at Pietro. He nodded, eyes darting around them. "Can you go further? Just a little further Griffin" She took his hand, " Can you take us there?" She asked, pointing to the distant lights of a town. "All three of us?"

"Yeah, easy" He tried to sound unconcerned as he stepped back into the shadows.

***

"Two minutes. Stay close," Steve said to Nat and Clint over the comms. "You ready Cas?" He asked, already heading to the lab.

"Not in the slightest." Casey muttered, readjusting her guns before following him. "He was here." Dread built up in her chest as she looked around at the lab.

"Dr. Cho!" Steve had reached her first. Casey came in a couple steps behind, friggin' super soldiers, so inconsiderate.

"Oh gosh" Casey paled at the sight of Dr Cho leaning against the wall, blood soaking through her clothes.

"He's uploading himself into the body." Dr Cho panted.

"Where?" Steve asked, waving Casey over.

"The real power is inside the Cradle," She tried to push Casey away but was too weak. Casey gently pressed her glowing hand to her wounded shoulder. "The gem, its power is uncontainable. You can't just blow it up. You have to get the Cradle to Stark."

"First we have to find it."

Dr Cho weakly pushed Casey away. "Go."

"There isn't much else I can do without..." She trailed off, looking away guiltily.

"You did enough, now go," Dr Cho said again.

"Did you guys copy that?" Steve asked, taking off down the hall. Casey took off at a much slower pace to the lab's garage.

"We did," Clint said over the comms.

"I got a private jet taking off, across town, no manifest. That could be him. Have you made it to the garage yet Cass?" Nat asked.

"Yes... give me one sec to get it started, hot wiring a car is not as easy as the movies make it seem." She grumbled. "Ha! I got it!" Casey smiled proudly a moment later.

"There. It's the truck from the lab. Right above you, Cap. On the loop by the bridge. It's them. I got three with the Cradle, one in the cab. I could take out the driver," Clint offered as Casey got the car she stole out onto said loop, at a speed that, under normal circumstances, would have gotten her banned from driving for at least a month by her mother.

"Negative! If that truck crashes, the gem could level the city. We need to draw out Ultron!" Steve yelled.

She managed to get close enough to the truck to see Steve jump down onto the truck as it passed under him.

"What the heck Steve!" She screamed, slamming on the brakes to avoid hitting the cars that swerved away from Ultron's blast.

"Well, he's definitely unhappy! I'm gonna try and keep him that way." Steve said attempting to get into the truck.

"This was a terrible idea" Casey groaned watching Steve fly up in the air before falling back onto one of the doors.

"You're not a match for him, Cap."

"Casey get out of the car, I'm coming to get you " Nat warned her over the comms.

"Yes, mama" Casey joked slowing down a bit.

"Thanks, Barton," Steve muttered, out of breath. When he tried to get back up Ultron blasted him back into the car behind them. Steve jumped onto a passing garbage truck and swung back onto the top of the truck.

"You know what's in that Cradle? The power to make real change," Ultron shot at Steve who turned and let it hit his shield "and that terrifies you."

"I wouldn't call it a comfort," Steve reached for his shield.

Casey could barely see the fight. She saw Ultron throw Steve's shield down onto the road, she did not however, swerve in time to get out of the way. She screamed as she crashed into a tree on the side of the road and she slammed her head against the car door. She leaned back, dazed and vaguely aware that the wound she had got from healing Dr Cho had started bleeding as well as a new gash on her head.

"Casey what happened?!" Nat's worried voice brought her out of her haze.

"I'm fine, the car got hit by Steve's shield."

"You stay put I'm coming to get you."

"We got a window," Clint said over his shoulder "Four, three...give 'em hell."

Nat dropped out of the Quinjet on her motorcycle weaving between lanes of cars. "Be ready to jump, Cas," Natasha yelled over the sounds of traffic.

"I don't like this plan" Casey noted, nevertheless stepping forward so that Nat could pull her up onto the bike.

"I'm always picking up after you boys," Nat jokes, taking the shield from Casey.

"They're heading under the overpass, I've got no shot." Clint warned them.

"Which way?" Nat asks

"Hard right... now."

Natasha turned, cutting through many lanes of traffic and down a small alleyway where people were frantically running out of their way.

Nat kept calling apologies and warnings: "Out of the way! Coming through! Sorry, coming through!"

"Nat Nat Nat Nat!" Casey called frantically as they approached an oncoming truck. "Natasha!" Sliding under a moving vehicle is not an activity Casey would ever recommend. Casey saw the corners of Nat's lips twitch a bit before she threw Steve his shield.

"Clint, can you draw out the guards?" Natasha yelled over the comms, driving up a set of stairs to dodge the bot's fire. Casey had tried to return fire, but all she had were normal guns with normal bullets that did little to no damage.

"Let's find out."

As they came down the stairs more pedestrians lept out of their way. Nat didn't have a horn to honk so she improvised yelling "Beep Beep" at the pedestrians who did not see them coming. Ultron was making it easy to follow them with the bright blast.

"I'm gonna jump," Nat said to Casey over her shoulder.

"You're gonna what now?" Casey prayed she had misheard her, she was distracted by Steve being thrown into a train.

"Heading back towards you. So whatever you're going to do, do it now," Clint interrupted Nat's response.

"I'm going in, Cap can you keep him occupied?" Nat asked.

"What do you think I've been doing?" he asked while Nat started to push herself up on the bike.

"Nat..." Casey started but she had already jumped. Casey let out a stream of curses narrowly missing a truck full of bottles while she tried to gain control of the bike. "I hate you." She complained half heartedly.

Two of Ultrons bots picked up the truck from the sides and started to lift it up, barely missing the barricade of police cars.

"Excuse me, important stuff!" Casey tried to channel Nat's calm nature that people listened too, and she thought she was doing okay until someone threw a tomato at her head. "I'm tryin' to save you from murder bots, but nooo you're gonna throw fruits at my head, that's fine I don't care."

"The package is airborne. I have a clean shot," Clint said over the comms, interrupting Casey's monologue,

"Negative. I am still in the truck," Nat quickly interrupted before anyone got to trigger-happy.

"What the hell are you...?" Clint started

"Just be ready, I'm sending the package to you."

"How do you want me to take it?"

"Uhh, you might wish you hadn't asked that."

"Uh... Steve you got company" Casey warned, seeing a blue streak make its way towards the train. She had taken her eyes off the road and would have hit the kid standing in the road, she thought she had for a moment, if it had been any other kid except for one of the enhanced. "What the heck!!" She screamed, coming to a stop as quickly as possible. "I'm not fighting a ten year old kid" she warned him as he reappeared from the shadows a couple of feet in front of her.

"I'm eleven." he wrinkled his nose at her, "and we're not here to fight, well not you at least"

"What is that supposed to mean?" She snorted.

"I lost him! He's headed your way," Steve said to Clint

"Nat, we gotta go. " there was a pause that made Casey's stomach clench "Nat! Cap, you see Nat?"

"If you have the package, get it to Stark! Go!" Steve urged him. Casey can't bring herself to say anything.

"Do you have eyes on Nat?"Clint asked.

"Go!"

"Civilians in our path." Steve said to someone on the train. "Casey, are you with the third enhanced?"

"Yes..." Casey did not like where this was going.

"Meet me in front of the train."

Casey turned back to the boy, who she believed was Griffin. "Cap says to meet him in front of the train."

Griffin nodded and then tilted his head to the side like he was listening to something . "Wanda is going to stop it" he then stepped forward grabbing her wrist and pulling her into the shadows, and walked back out next to the train.

"That is disorienting" she shook her head trying to regain her balance.

"You get used to it," an all too familiar voice said behind her. Without thinking she turned and punched him in the face, he must have been more exhausted than he let on because he didn't dodge it.

"What happened to your head?" Steve asked ignoring Pietro who had his hand pressed against his cheek.

"Your shield crashed my car."

Steve opened his mouth to say something but Wanda spoke over him "The Cradle, did you get it?"

"Stark will take care of it," Steve nodded. Casey still refused to take her eyes off the three enhanced, slowly reaching for her gun.

Wanda stared at him for a beat before shaking her head "No, he won't."

"You don't know what you're talking about, Stark's not crazy." Steve reasoned. Casey made an odd noise that suggested she thought that statement was debatable. Pietro snorted.

"He will do anything to make things right," Wanda countered.

Steve watched her for a moment before trying to reach Tony on the comms "Stark, come in. Stark. Anyone on comms?"

"Ultron can't tell the difference between saving the world and destroying it. Where do you think he gets that?"

"So we're trusting them?" Casey whispered to Steve. Pietro, Wanda and Griffin stood huddled in the corner. Wanda had an arm wrapped around Griffin holding him against her. Pietro kept smoothing back Wanda's hair. If they hadn't beaten her up on more than one occasion, she wouldn't see any reason to fear them. Unfortunately they had so she saw plenty of reasons to be scared of them, even if one of them was an eleven year old boy who didn't even make it to her shoulders.

"They have a point."

"I hate this plan we should be going after Nat" Casey argued even though she knew it was pointless.

"You're barely standing," he nudged her, and she almost fell over, proving his point.

"I hate this."

"So you've said."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not to sound desperate but...I hate this chapter title, if you have ANY other ideas on what it should be PLEASE let me know! I'm exhausted from robotics and my brain to a vacation( i typed 'no' instead of 'know' the first time i typed this \\(0___o)/). That's really all I have to say about this chapter. THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH FOR READING YA'LL ARE ALL ABSOLUTELY FRIGGEN AWSOME!!! See you in two weeks with chapter ten which i totally have written like the prepared person i defiantly am |(O-O)|.


	10. Vision

“They have already started experimenting with it.” Casey said, turning to talk to Steve, ignoring the other three. Steve put his shield back behind his back before walking out towards Bruce and Tony. Casey and the three enhanced followed.

“I'm gonna say this once.”

“How about ‘nonce’?” Tony barely looked up from his screen. “Shut it down!”

“Nope, not gonna happen,” Tony said, ignoring Steve and continuing to type away at his computer screen.

“You don't know what you're doing.” Steve turned for back-up from Casey, but she just shrugged. She didn’t really care, she just wanted to find Nat.

“And you do? She's not in your head?” Bruce asked, pointing at Wanda with his glasses.

“I know you're angry,” Wanda spoke up, stepping out next to Steve.

“Oh, we're way past that. I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade,” Bruce said darkly.

“Banner, after everything that's happened…” Steve started.

“That's nothing compared to what's coming!” Tony snapped.

“You don't know what's in there!”

“This isn't a game…”

“The creature...!” They all started yelling over each other.

Casey stepped forward to dodge Pietro when he dashed around the lab unplugging things and causing alarms to go off and sparks to fly.

“No, no. Go on. You were saying?” Pietro Maximoff said sarcastically. Griffin jumped when a gunshot rang through the room before the glass under Pietro’s feet shatters, and he falls through.

“Pietro!” Wanda cried while Griffin rushed forward.

More alarms start to go off causing Tony to turn away from his screen. “I’m rerouting the upload.” He said to Bruce, before Steve throws his shield into their consoles.

Tony has one of his Iron Man gloves on within seconds and blasts Steve back.

“What the heck! Can you two have a civil conversation like two adults without trying to kill each other!” Casey screamed, bringing her good arm up to protect her head from the glass.

Griffin stood to help Wanda, but before either of them could do anything Bruce had his arm around Wanda’s neck. “Go ahead, piss me off,” he warned. Casey pulled out one of her guns, her right shoulder hurt like heck and there was a dull ache in her head but she hated standing there and feeling useless. She really hoped she didn’t have to use it.

Steve got back up, running at Tony, who by now had the chest piece and ended up blasting both of them backwards.

Thor chose that moment to come in out of nowhere, jumping onto the cradle. He lifted up his hammer; ignoring Bruce when he screamed, “Wait!”. Everyone else watched on with a mix of curiosity and horror.

The cradle opened with a blast sending Thor flying and causing more glass to rain everywhere. ‘Why on earth does Tony have so much glass?!’ Casey thought, ducking again to try and avoid the glass.

There is a red robot man thing standing on the edge of the cradle when Casey stands back up. He...it...whatever, looked around the lab curiously. When his eyes fell on Thor he lunged at him. Thor threw him towards even more glass. The robot-man-thing, continued to spin through the air until he stopped in front of a window staring at the city outside. They all frantically followed him, Thor, getting their first, he held out his hand, telling them to wait. The robot-man-thing continued to stare out the window, after a moment clothes just kind of appeared on him. He turned around and landed next to Thor

“I'm sorry, that was...odd,” he turned to Thor, “Thank you.”

“Sounds like Jarvis,” Casey said, mostly to herself. Griffin noticed the robot-man studying Thor's cape before rolling his shoulders and creating his own.

“Thor, you helped create this?” Steve asked, slightly out of breath.

“I've had a vision: a whirlpool that sucks in all hope of life and at its center is that,” He pointed to the stone in the robot-man-thing’s head.

“What, the gem?” Bruce asked.

“It's the Mind Stone. It's one of the six Infinity Stones, the greatest power in the universe, unparalleled in its destructive capabilities,”

“Mind Stone… that-that explains Adeline’s…” Bruce trailed off and Casey knew he had retreated into his own thoughts.

“Then why would you bring it to…”Steve started.

“Because Stark is right,” Thor talked over him.

“Oh, it's definitely the end times,” Bruce looked around. Casey tried to hold back her laugh, but ended up snorting instead. Pietro shot her an odd look.

“The Avengers cannot defeat Ultron."

“Not alone,” Robot-man-thing adds.

“Why does your "vision" sound like JARVIS?” Steve asked.

“We...we reconfigured JARVIS' matrix to create something new,” Tony watched robot-man-thing as he walked towards them.

“I think I've had my fill of new,” Steve grumbled.

“I’m confused, is he a robot, or a man?” Griffin asked Wanda.

Casey groans inwardly, she was now going to have “A Muppet or a Man” going through her head for the rest of the day.

"You think I'm a child of Ultron?”

“You're not?” Steve asked

“I'm not Ultron. I'm not JARVIS. I am...I a.” He looked at Tony as if asking for the answer.

“I looked in your head and saw annihilation,” Wanda said to him.

“Look again.”

“Yeah. Her seal of approval means jack to me,”

“Their powers, the horrors in our heads, Ultron himself, they all came from the Mind Stone, and they're nothing compared to what it can unleash. But with it on our side…”

Steve interrupted Thor, “Is it? Are you? On our side?” He looked at Vision accusingly. Casey could feel knots in her stomach.

“I don't think it's that simple,” Vision shook his head sadly.

“Well it better get real simple real soon,” Clint grumbled.

“I am on the side of life. Ultron isn't, he will end it all.”

“What's he waiting for?” Tony spoke up.

“You,” Vision turns to look at all of them.

“Where?” Bruce asked.

“Sokovia. He's got Nat there too,” Clint spoke up.

“If we're wrong about you, if you're the monster that Ultron made you to be…” Bruce threatened.

“What will you do?” He asked with the obliviousness of a child before it dawned on him. ”I don't want to kill Ultron. He's unique, and he's in pain” He started. “But that pain will roll over the earth, so he must be destroyed. Every form he's built, every trace of his presence on the net, we have to act now. And not one of us can do it without the others. Maybe I am a monster. I don't think I'd know if I were one. I'm not what you are, and not what you intended. So there may be no way to make you trust me. But we need to go,” Vision turned, picking up Thor’s hammer and handing it to him.

Thor took it from him after an awkward pause, Casey covered a laugh with a cough. “Right.” Thor patted Tony on the shoulder and chuckled. ”Well done.”

“Ten minutes. Get what you need,” Steve said before turning to Casey. “Do you need help with that?” He pointed at her shoulder, which had started bleeding again.

“Nah I got it” she shooed him away. Casey followed the enhanced and Clint to the lockers, rummaging through hers until she found her first aid kit.

“Need help?” Pietro asked.

“Bugg off” she snapped half-heartedly. He shrugged and to Casey’s surprise, left. Once she bandaged up her shoulder and forehead she met up with everyone else at the jet.

“No way we all get through this,” Tony said. “ If even one tin soldier is left standing, we've lost. It's gonna be blood on the floor.”

“That’s uplifting” she muttered, not that she really expected to be told everything was going to be fine.

“I got no plans tomorrow night,” Steve tried to joke.

“I get first crack at the big guy. Iron Man's the one he's waiting for,” Tony said to Bruce.

“That's true, he hates you the most.” Vision agreed walking behind them.

“Ultron knows we're coming. Odds are we'll be riding into heavy fire, and that's what we signed up for. But the people of Sokovia, they didn't. So our priority is getting them out,” Steve told them in what Casey had come to think of as his “America’ voice, the one he used when he was giving pep talks. “All they want is to live their lives in peace, and that's not going to happen today. But we can do our best to protect them. And we can get the job done, and find out what Ultron's been building. We find Romanoff, and we clear the field. Keep the fight between us. Ultron thinks we're monsters and we're what's wrong with the world. This isn't just about beating him. It's about whether he's right.”

“Wait what is the kid doing here?” Casey asked, noticing that the ten year old was standing in the shadows next to Wanda.

“I know how to fight” he glared at her.

“You’re ten” she pointed out.

Wanda held up her hand. “It is not your place to worry for him. He can fight, he is staying with me.” She said forcefully.

“He is ten” Casey repeated, quietly looking at Steve for backup. Steve was frowning at them but said nothing.

“Casey you stay with the enhanced; keep an eye on them.” Steve said after the silence had dragged on well past the stage of being a little awkward.

“I know you’re only saying that because you want me away from Ultron. We both know I could do nothing to stop them if I wanted to, but I’m going to pretend that I don’t know that, because it makes my ego happy,” she crossed her arms so that she now looked like a pouting child.

“How is your shoulder?” He asked in a sloppy attempt to change the subject.

“Not any different than when you asked twenty minutes ago.”

“We’re here” Tony informed them.

“The people are our first priority!” Steve reminded them.

Pietro ran towards apartment buildings. Casey caught up in time to see Pietro run into the police department with a gun. The sound of gunshots followed.

“Everyone get out!” Casey screamed, running along the streets. “We are under attack you need to leave!” She tried again. Someone threw a garden pot at her head.

Pietro ran up next to her firing his gun again. “Listen to the girl with pink hair!”

“You are enjoying this” She accused. He shrugged, turning away with a smirk.

Wanda was standing in the streets directing people out of the city. Griffin was using his portals to poke his head into peoples houses and yelling at them to pack their stuff and go, it was surprisingly effective. Steve and Clint were directing cars through the streets and over a bridge.

The ground under Casey started to shake. She looked over at Pietro who was just as shocked as she was. Casey definitely didn’t scream when an Ultron minion thing crawled out of the ground. There was no screaming, no flailing and she definitely was not saved by the ten year old.

“Where would we be without you brave Avengers?” He asked with the closest thing to a smile Casey had ever seen him, not that they had spent much time outside of fighting.

“There are more,” Casey shuddered. Griffin just stared at her losing what little faith he had in the Avengers youngest member.

Chaos broke loose as more of them began to crawl out of cracks in the pavement.

“Get off the bridge!” Wanda urged the civilians, shielding them from oncoming fire.

Pietro took out entire rows of them at once. Griffin continued to focus on evacuating civilians. Casey was extremely glad to be able to fight an enemy that she could shoot .

The quakes started again, stronger this time. Huge cracks ran throughout the city, and Sikovia started to rise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is being posted so late today, I finished writing it last night then it needed to be edited today. If you have any feed back please let me know. Thanks for reading! :D


	11. Saving a Flying City

The mini Ultrons stopped fighting and all spoke at once. “Do you see?“ They asked. ”The beauty of it, the inevitability. You rise, only to fall.”

Griffin didn’t resist when Wanda pulled him closer, away from one of the robots.

“You, Avengers, you are my meteor, my swift and terrible sword and the earth will crack with the weight of your failure.”

Casey looked around anxiously. She shot a couple in a futile attempt to shut them up, but it was pointless.

“Purge me from your computers, turn my own flesh against me. It means nothing. When the dust settles, the only thing living in this world will be metal.”

“Cap, you got incoming,” Tony warned over the coms while Casey was leading a family away from their collapsed home.

“Incoming already came in. Stark, you worry about bringing the city back down safely,” Steve replied. “The rest of us have one job: tear these things apart. You get hurt, hurt 'em back. You get killed, walk it off.”

Griffin ran towards Casey with another group of people, once their two groups merged he was gone again.

“Out of the way!” Pietro warned, shoving a couple of the civilians from Casey’s growing group out of the way of collapsing building, before running off again

“We got people still stuck on the bridge!” Steve said over the comms.

Casey could see him straining to pull a car back away from the edge. She ran over to help him as the two cars fell over the edge. “Shoot. Shoot. Shoot. Shoot. Shoot,” she reached Steve who gave a quick nod to someone, Casey assumed Thor, before sliding down the crumbling edge of the bridge. Casey didn’t have the extra energy to be worried for his safety. He was a grown adult if he wanted to jump off a bridge, who was she to stop him.

When she leaned over the edge she saw the woman in the car Steve had been trying to save flying back up towards them.

“We are throwing civilians now, this is normal.”

Steve caught the woman by her arm. “I got you! Just look at me,” he lifted the woman up to Casey, who helped her climb over the edge. Thor dropped the other car down next to them.

“You can't save them all,” One of the bots warned “You'll never…” Steve threw his shield at it, effectively shutting it up, before tossing it over the edge.

“You'll never what? You didn't finish! “ he turned back to Thor “What, were you napping?”  
Casey looked over at the people they had just rescued, surprised that only one of them was throwing up. “Is everyone good? No one is dying?” She knew they probably didn’t speak English, but they seemed fine, given the current circumstances. She turned to find three robots flying towards them. She pulled out her gun, and fired four times, she had missed the last one once, and all three of them fell. She only made it a couple feet before another one flew down scooping her off the ground. “Rude.” she grumbled, stabbing the bot with the knife Nat had insisted she carry, since her gun was currently pinned to her side. The angle was awkward so it took her a couple tries to hit something important. Naturally that is when she realized she was still ten feet off the ground.

Most people would probably consider it lucky to have someone with superhuman speed to catch them when they forget gravity exists and are falling. Casey would have preferred hitting the pavement. She had super healing; she would have been fine, probably. Pietro opened his mouth to make a snarky remark.

“Snarky comment and I will stab you” She held the knife at him threateningly.

“I wasn’t going to say a word.” he assured her, still smirking.

“Sure” she rolled her eyes and ran off.

“Alright, we're all clear here” Clint said over the comms.

“We are not clear! We are very not clear!” Steve threw his shield effectively decapitating a bot.

“Alright, coming to you.”

“Keep up old man!” Pietro teased.

“Nobody would know. “ Clint aimed an arrow at him. “Nobody. ‘The last I saw him, when Ultron was sitting on him. Uh...yeah, he'll be missed, that quick little bastard. I miss him already.’”

“I wouldn’t tell,” Griffin said, stepping out of the shadows briefly.

“I swear these kids…” Clint shook his head watching Griffin step back into the shadows.

Wanda and Pietro joined Casey who was helping the local police fight off some of the robots. Wanda was able to crush them all within seconds. Unfortunately for Pietro the police did not stop firing until one of their bullets grazed his arm. He stopped long enough to shoot them a look. Casey barely succeeded in containing her laughter.

“Where is Griffin?” Casey asked Wanda. Wanda waved her hand over to her left where Casey could just make out the boy taking down a bot with his shadows. Casey had no idea how that was possible, but it was definitely a terrifying sight

“What have you got, Stark?” Steve said over the comms, making Casey jump.

“Well, nothing great,” Tony admitted “Maybe a way to blow up the city. That'll keep it from impacting the surface if you guys can get clear.”

Casey felt her heart drop, looking at all of the people they were currently leading to safety, and knowing their current and only option was to blow the city up with them still on it

“I asked for a solution, not an escape plan.”

“Impact radius is getting bigger every second. We're going to have to make a choice.”

“Cap, these people are going nowhere. If Stark finds a way to blow this rock…” Natasha was talking specifically to Steve, but she still said it over the comms.

“Not 'til everyone's safe.” Steve said.

“Everyone up here versus everyone down there? There's no math there.” Natasha tried again.

“I'm not leaving this rock with one civilian on it.”

“I didn't say we should leave,” Casey could hear Natasha’s sad smile as she spoke, the same smile that she had had in the car after they had gotten take out. “There's worse ways to go. Where else am I gonna get a view like this?”

“Glad you like the view, Romanoff. It's about to get better.”

“Is that…” Casey started to ask until she saw the helicraft.

“Nice, right? I pulled her out of mothballs with a couple of old friends. She's dusty, but she'll do.”

“Fury, you son of a bitch.” Steve said.

“Oooh! You kiss your mother with that mouth?” Fury chuckled.

Pietro ran off to see it better. Casey and Wanda followed behind much slower.

“This is SHIELD?” Pietro asked.

“This is what SHIELD's supposed to be,” Steve nodded.

“This,“ he smiles back at them “is not so bad.”

“Let's load 'em up,” Steve ordered.

As soon as they opened the doors the civilians flooded out to the lifeboats. Thay had to let them go in waves. Steve would signal when they needed to stop and wait for new lifeboats and then they would let the next wave go.

“You think you're saving anyone? I turn that key and drop this rock a little early and it's still billions dead. Even you can't stop that,” The robots taunted.

“Avengers, time to work for a living,” Tony called.

Before Casey could even start running back towards Thor and Vision, Griffin pulled her into the shadows and they walked back out around the key.

“I hate it when you do that,” She stumbled trying to regain her balance.

“You're welcome” he shrugged, going to fight next to the twins.

“Romanoff? You and Banner better not be playing ‘hide the zucchini’,” Tony joked.

“Relax, Shell-head. Not all of us can fly. What's the drill?” She asked, joining the rest of the team, while driving a construction vehicle.

“This is the drill. If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose,” he pointed to Ultron's key.

Hulk came crashing in moments later, Ultron hovering a ways behind.

“Is that the best you can do?” Thor yells at Ultron.

Ultron raised one arm and every robot in the city made its way towards them.

Casey cursed under her breath.

“You had to ask,” Steve sighed, getting ready to fight.

“This is the best I can do. This is exactly what I wanted. All of you, against all of me. How could you possibly hope to stop me?” Ultron asked.

“Well, like the old man said: together.” Tony answered. Hulk roared in agreement, and the robots advanced.

Casey had a moment to think they kind of look like a bunch of metal ants, with the way they crawl over everything. Then they attacked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This is really late and really short....I have no excuse. Thank you so much for waiting. If you have any questions or you want to correct anything, please let me know! Thanks for reading! :D


	12. Ultron's End

The fight was a blur of flying bot parts, and Casey hadn't realized it was over until the bots were retreating.

"They'll try to leave the city," Thor warned.

"We can't let 'em, not even one. Rhodey!" Tony turned to Rhodey who was already taking off.

"I'm on it."

Griffin moved to stand next to Wanda.

"We gotta move out. Even I can tell the air is getting thin. You guys get to the boats, I'll sweep for stragglers, be right behind you," Rogers ordered.

"What about the core?" Clint asked. Looking at the core itself Griffin found it odd how if even a signal bot reached it the damage would be catastrophic.

"I'll protect it," Wanda spoke up. Griffin lightly kicked her foot to get her attention. She nodded in a silent understanding "We will. It's our job."

Clint nodded at them before following the rest of the Avengers.

Pietro ran up after everyone else left. Griffin could tell he was going to protest.

"Get the people on the boats," Wanda told him.

"I'm not going to leave you here."

" I can handle this," she said, blasting an approaching robot. "Come back for me when everyone else is off, not before. You understand?"

Pietro ran between them ruffling Griffin's hair as he passed, before turning back to Wanda. "You know, I'm twelve minutes older than you."

"Go," Wanda waved him off with a laugh.

"Wanda, where are we going to go after this?" Griffin asked, a sudden wave of nerves crashing over him.

Wanda nudged his shoulder. "Let's get through this first," she told him, bracing herself for the oncoming bots.

"Clint! Where is Nat?" Casey asked, looking up from the little boy who she was healing when the archer had run onto the boat. The burns on the boy's leg had been severe enough that she had been concerned.

"Costel? We were in the market. Costel?!" a woman was shouting frantically.

"Clint, I think there's a boy out there." Casey said pointing to a crashed car

"Nat is coming" Clint assured her before he ran off to the little boy crouched behind the car.

"Thor, I'm gonna need you back in the church," Tony said over the comms.

"Is this the last of them?" Thor asked

"Yeah. Everyone else is on the carrier," Steve said.

Casey heard the jet before she saw it, When she could see it all she could do was watch in horror as the few civilians who hadn't yet made it to the lifeboat fell under the bullets.

She had already crouched next to them to see if she could save them when Clint had turned to shield the boy he was saving. She confirmed they were dead before searching for Clint, only to see Pietro standing in front of him, blood seeping through his shirt.

Wanda had felt it before Griffin realized what happened. She had frozen for a moment. He could see the fear flood her face. Her screams were heartbreaking. Griffin stepped behind a wall to avoid the chaos magic rolling off of her in waves. Taking advantage of the shadows behind the wall he left Wanda to go to Pietro.

Griffin could see Casey carrying Pietro to the lifeboat, with the help of Steve Rogers. He ran to them frantically trying to see Pietro.

"Is he okay?" he asked. He had directed the question to Casey, whose hand glowed blue, which he assumed was because she was healing him.

Casey turned to Steve, her thoughts too slow for her to be able to comfort the boy.

"He's going to be fine," Steve placed a reassuring hand on Griffin's shoulder. " I need you to stay with Casey."  
"I have to go to Wanda," Griffin said. "I-I left her... she is still out there, I have to go get her!"

"I'll make sure she gets off, stay with Casey!" Steve ordered before running off again,

Laying on the bench behind Casey was Clint who had come back from returning the kid to his mother.

"Clint... what if I can't save him?" she asked after Griffin had wandered far enough away. Casey's eyes followed him, not that she could do anything if he decided to go look for Wanda.

The archer looked at her for a moment before he answered. "No one will blame you, but you can save him. Listen, I'm not good at motivational speeches, but Natsha doesn't recruit just anyone, you are stronger than you think, and I know you can save him."

"Right... right '' She trailed off looking at Pietro, she knew she couldn't fully heal the wounds, but she didn't think they had hit anything vital, so she focused on stopping the bleeding. She noticed him watching her, his eyes half closed and face devoid of color. "I still hate you," she reminded him. She wasn't sure if he was conscious enough to understand her. He just kind of grimaced and though Casey figured it was more likely from the sudden movement of the lifeboat, she took it as a reply. "Guess we're even now; you saved me, I save you," Casey wasn't sure if she should be wasting her energy by talking, but it gave her something to think about other than the blood that was now covering her hands.

"Did you find Wanda!?" Griffin asked Steve, who had jumped from the city to the lifeboat at the last minute, panic rising as the city plummeted down.

"Vision went to find her," Steve said as the boat jerked towards the Helicarrier.

Griffin ran to the edge of the boat searching for Wanda amongst what was now rubble. "I don't see her!" he said, sitting next to Casey, defeated.

"She'll be there," Casey promised.

Griffin noticed she was swaying now, like any minute she might pass out. Clint must have noticed it too, because he sat up placing a hand on her back to steady her.

"Just hold on Cas, we're almost there." Clint assured her.

Griffin could see a lifeboat hovering ahead waiting to be unloaded, and felt an increase of anxiety swell in his chest. His stomach was so knotted it hurt.

When their lifeboat docked, a small medic crew wheeled a gurney towards them and lifted Pietro up onto it. They did their best to convince Casey to let go. When she refused Steve followed her and the medics.

Griffin tried to follow as well, but Clint stopped him. "Wanda is here, I think it would be better if you came with me to see her, she needs you."

Griffin reluctantly agreed and followed him.

"We are doing everything we can to help you; now, help us by remaining calm," The voice of a young girl spoke over the intercom and Griffin could feel himself relax a little. He found himself trusting the voice, a little voice in the back of his head noted how odd this was.

"Most people here don't speak English," Griffin frowned as the message played for the fifth time while they entered the elevator.

"Adeline could be speaking gibberish and it would still be calming," Clint said. Griffin observed that for some reason he did not seem happy about this.

The elevator doors opened and Griffin followed Clint out into another room where he immediately spotted Wanda sitting in a chair, asleep.

"Is she okay!?" Griffin asked Clint who was already walking towards a monitor where a girl with scared eyes was standing next to two SHIELD officers.

"What are you doing?" Clint asked them. They both opened their mouths to reply but the girl spoke up first.

"I wanted to help," She crossed her arms defensively.

"And Wanda?" He asked her.

"Well... she was upset and things were flying everywhere, all I did was calm her down, she fell asleep on her own..." The girl looked down at her feet, her shoulders hunched.

Clint sighed, running a hand over his face. "You don't have to do anything they tell you to, Adeline."

"This is Adeline?" Griffin hadn't been expecting someone younger than him.

"Hi," she held out her hand, "didn't know you were there. I'm Adeline."

Griffin stared at her hand a moment before shaking it. "Griffin."

"Want to play cards?" She asked, pulling a deck of cards out of her coat pocket.

Griffin frowned looking at Clint, not sure how to respond. Clint just shrugged. "You always carry cards?" Griffin asked.

"Nope, but Mom said that it was going to be a long flight. Ms. Hill picked us up from the tower, so Elijah took them from Mr. Stark's desk," She said as she made her way around the two agents.

After Casey was sure there was nothing more she could do for Pietro she let Steve lead her over to a chair, which she collapsed into without argument. Steve let her sleep as long as possible. As soon as they were able to, the Avengers boarded a quintjet to head back to their headquarters. Adeline and Elijah joined them.

Pietro was on the jet, still unconscious and laying on a gurney, but some color had returned to his face. Wanda had taken the seat next to him holding his hand and quietly talking to him.

The whole team was beaten up and exhausted, and no one knew what to think of the Hulk's disappearance. Casey was still practically dead to the world when Steve carried her to the jet. The flight home was quiet, and very few words were spoken between them.

When they landed, Pietro was taken to the med bay, to be monitored. Wanda and Griffin followed.

"Cas, we're back," Steve gently shook her shoulder, careful of her injuries.

"Five more minutes" she mumbled, words slurred.

"You can sleep for five weeks for all I care, but how about we get you cleaned up first? You are covered in blood."  
Casey peeled open her eyes to look at herself. He was right. She had blood all over her hands, and soaked through her suit. Some of it was from injuries she got from fighting, some she got from healing others. Some of it she did not know the source; she didn't want to think too hard about that.

"It hurts" she knew she sounded like a child, but she was so tired, and she hurt so much. "It really hurts."

"Come on, let's get you some pain killers," Steve offered, helping her to her feet.

After cleaning up and changing into a clean set of clothes she had borrowed from Natasha, Casey collapsed on the floor, too tired to walk the extra 10 steps to the bed in the guest room. She didn't wake up again until two in the morning. She pushed herself up off the floor regretting her decision to sleep there, and clumsily made her way to the kitchen.

Unfortunately Tony had taken them to the new headquarters so the pantry was still mostly empty, but she managed to find a container of applesauce. After a failed attempt to find either a bowl or a spoon, she settled for drinking out of the container while limping around the compound. She could almost hear Steve scolding her for not staying off her bad leg, but the original injury hadn't been too awful so she figured she would be fine to wander a bit. She found Clint sitting on the couch watching TV. Adeline and Elijah were curled up next to him, and reruns of the Great British Baking Show were playing.

"Where are Evelyn and David?" Casey asked leaning against the back of the couch.

"Helping Fury with clean up. These two wanted to stay up and wait for them," Clint said looking down at the two siblings. "I thought Elijah might have lasted, but I told him no video games, and turned on baking shows, and now he's out."

"Do you know how Pietro's doing?" She was almost scared to ask, but she also needed to know.

"He is going to be fine," Clint assured her. "If you want to check on him he is in the medbay, down the hall and to the left. Wanda and Griffin are still awake. They were out here a bit ago, and watched about an episode before they left. I've got to admit, I'm starting to see why Laura liked these so much."

"Right, thanks," Casey turned to follow his direction. When she reached the med bay she started to knock, but then hesitated, fist hovering over the door. Maybe he wasn't really okay, maybe she had only made things worse, maybe-.

The door was jerked open and Wanda stepped through pulling Casey into a quick hug, before stepping back, her face lit up with a smile. "Thank you," she said, stepping back to let Casey in, "you came to check on him, no?"

"He... he is okay?" Casey asked, looking over at him.

"He will be on bedrest, which he will hate, but yes, he is okay."

"Oh thank goodness, " Casey let herself fully relax, she hadn't killed a teammate.

"We really owe you."

"No! I mean we're even, he saved me from a fall, so no, you really don't owe me," Casey assured her.

"You're hurt," Wanda frowned. "Can you not heal yourself?"

"Oh, well, I can, sometimes, as long as it's an injury that was... that was mine? That doesn't make any sense, see most of these are from healing people... like I don't just make injuries disappear i get the same injury, just not as bad. Like this burn on my leg, the boy I healed, his entire leg was burned, I just have it on part of my shin. That was probably still really confusing," Casey laughed a little. She didn't like talking about the side effects of her power, it tended to make people feel guilty, but her thoughts were still not working properly and she was having a hard time filtering what she said.

"You are injured from my brother," Wanda said, noticing a wound on Casey's shoulder similar to one on Pietro's shoulder.

"I heal fast, it'll be gone soon," Casey waved her off. Wanda frowned, but dropped the topic.

"Would you like to play?" Wanda asked, turning back to the board game Griffin was setting up. They had given up on sleep and had founded it outside the door when they came back from watching tv with Clint.

"Why not," Casey shrugged.

It was the first time Griffin had seen Wanda fully allow herself to be happy, and he figured maybe living with the Avengers wouldn't be too bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we are done with Age of Ultron! This also means I have run into the small problem of not having planned this far T-T. So I'm going to go on a (hopefully) small hiatus while I figure out what to do next. In the meantime have some angst (is this angst IDK \\(0_0)/) while I disappear for an undetermined amount of time ;)
> 
> Hope you are all staying safe and healthy. As always if you have any feedback/questions/thought please feel free to comment. Thanks for reading! :D


	13. Readjusting

“When do you go back?” Wanda asked her, two days after Sokovia.

“Saturday. I’ll probably be here at least one weekend a month,” Casey shrugged, pouring a concerning amount of syrup on her plate of waffles.

“You need to rest,” Wanda felt that she was somewhat responsible for her well being since Casey had saved Pietro.

“I need to get back to school, and work.”

“You have another job?” Wanda changed the subject, perhaps she could get Steve to help her plead her case later.

“Yeah, small bakery. I like it there. I get to meet new people.”

“Socializing,” Griffin shuddered, coming out of nowhere to grab a plate of waffles.

“Well, frick,” Casey said after she got over her initial surprise. “Do you have to do that.”

“It’s quicker,” Griffin shrugged with a smirk. Casey suspected he just enjoyed scaring people. Wanda knew he did. He ducked back out of the kitchen.

“Is he going back to Pietro?” Casey asked, concern written across her face.

Wanda nodded. Griffin was… protective in his own quiet way.

Friday night Casey threw the belongings she had with her in a duffle bag. Said belongings consisted of her suit, a phone charger, a set of knives from Nat, homework she hadn’t done, a first aid kit, and a pair of batons, also from Nat. She kept clothes and toiletries at the tower, they were yet to be moved to the compound, so her bag was usually light. She then made her way to the med bay where Pietro was. Wanda had finally managed to get Griffin to sleep in one of the guest bedrooms, instead of on the floor, so for a rare couple of hours there was no one sitting with him. She wondered for a brief moment if he knew that his sister and Griffin had been spending as much time as possible with him, if he knew they were gone.

“I still hate you,” she reminded him, in case he could hear her, “and one of these days i’m gonna get you back for the fight at the Hydra base. You broke my nose! Sure it wasn’t the first time, but still! Also had several cracked ribs,” She was rambling now, she didn’t know why she didn’t just leave. “I’m going home tomorrow, not that you care,” she didn't say anything for several minutes. She just watched the monitor wishing she could fully understand what the numbers meant. “If you die now, I’m going to be pissed. Seriously one gunshot wound is a pain in the butt, but several! You know how long they are going to take to heal.”

Gosh I hope he can’t hear me whining about my injuries. He was the one who was shot! She leaned her head against the wall. She wanted to go home. She wanted to hide under the covers and cry. She still didn’t have a plausible excuse for where she had been, saying she was sick wouldn’t work since Lisa had definitely checked by her house when she didn’t show up at school. Her parents had gotten pretty good at lying on her behalf.

She wanted to hide in her room until she healed, but that wasn’t an option. She had to go to school, she had missed too many days helping the search for the scepter, and training with SHIELD, and she had to save days in case something else came up. Failing her last year of high school due to absences wasn’t an option.

“I’ve bitten off more than I can chew,” she groaned miserably. “We aren’t even half way through the year.” She looked up at the clock, and stood with a sigh. “I should go. Just wanted to remind you that you are still a jerk…even if you are a hero.”

The next morning she woke up later than she meant too. She got ready in a panic, despite not actually having anywhere to be. Steve handed her a plate of food when she came racing through the kitchen.

“Called your mom; she knows we are running a little late, and you aren’t leaving until you eat something,” he insisted.

Casey opened her mouth to argue, but decided against it.

Before she left, Wanda had scribbled the number of her new phone on Casey’s hand. Casey smiled at the black sharpie. Four days ago the world was ending, and now she had a new friend.

Not much was said during the drive. Steve stopped outside her house and she waved at him from the top of the steps before entering the house. Both of her parents had things going on that day, and if she was being perfectly honest that was why she chose to come home that day, so that she had time alone without risking someone walking in.

She glanced at her mom's old yoga mat which was propped up against the couch. Every couple of months her mom would get super inspired to stay active. Which included running, cycling, dance, boxing, and yoga. Casey was often dragged into the activities. Yoga had stuck; boxing had also been fun. The Yoga phase started about eight months ago and her mom stayed determined for several months. It was during those months Natasha had found her. Casey still wasn’t exactly sure how she had found her, though she knew Evelyn had scouted her out. Evelyn took Adeline and Elijah to the bakery every Friday, and stopped for coffee there every day she had worked.

Yoga helped her relax after stressful training sessions. It wasn’t until Natasha had recruited her that she had even considered trying to heal others, she hadn’t even realized what she could do was that special. The only injuries she usually got were bruises or scrapes. The only time she noticed it was odd was when she face-planted into the sidewalk sophomore year. She had managed to break her nose and had some pretty epic cuts. After a little over a week she was completely healed; she had scars, but it was still odd.

As stressed as she was yoga wasn’t an option, so she took her bags back to her room. She ditched the jacket she had thrown on over her tank top. She went over to a mirror and looked at herself. Her black eye was gone. Her chest still hurt a bit, though whether that was from when they retreated the scepter or more recent she couldn’t recall. She still had the injury from Dr. Cho and a cut on her forehead from the car crash. Painfully close to Dr Cho's wound was one of Pietro’s, luckily for both of them he was fast and managed to avoid most of the bullets. There were still more: two on her left shoulder, another too close to her stomach, above her left knee, and the sixth on her left leg. They were nothing compared to actual bullet wounds, but they hurt like heck. She collapsed onto her bed welcoming the sleep that tugged at the back of her mind.

Griffin was sitting with Pietro while Wanda was out. She had asked him to come but he refused. He knew Pietro probably wouldn’t wake up yet, but he wanted to be there when he did. The twins had become like the siblings he never had; or maybe he had siblings, he couldn’t remember. He did remember that HYDRA had approached him on the street. He hadn’t really listened to what they were saying. He took their offer because they had said the words “food” and “shelter”. There had been a lot of kids of various ages when the experiments started, but when he woke up it was just him and the twins. He never understood what HYDRA wanted to accomplish, he just followed the twins. He knew the twins wanted revenge, and that they didn’t know any more about HYDRA than he did. They had told him as much when he pestered them with questions.

He looked at Pietro. He was terrified though he’d never admit it. Pietro had always seemed invincible even when he had been beaten he would stand up with a smart reply. Now Pietro laid in a bed, face void of color, hooked up to several beeping machines. Every so often someone would come in to check on Pietro, to change his iv, or read his vitals. Griffin watched them carefully though he had no idea what he was looking for. He sat in the corner playing the video game Adeline’s brother had shown him.

Wanda came back from the store to find Griffin slumped against the wall, asleep. She brought him a pillow and blanket. He looked innocent when he slept, if you could see past the way the shadows on his face were darker then they should have been. The shadows in the room reached towards him. Wanda only wished more people could see him for the child he was.

Casey really didn’t want to go. She wanted to stay home, or go to the Avengers tower.

It was just a Christmas party. Her mom had insisted it would be fun.

Her dad had told her that she needed to socialize more with her peers.

Lisa had looked at her with pleading eyes telling her that she owed her.

Lisa was the only one who Casey considered right (she socialized!). Casey hadn’t had time to hang out since Sokovia, which was over a month ago. She had spent every weekend at the tower trying to get Pietro to wake up, and it had sapped all her strength, leaving her practically a zombie every week. She barely turned in everything for her classes and her shifts at work were all a blur. The use of energy also meant that her healing was going slower, she still needed crutches and her right shoulder was useless.

It was just a Christmas party, a Secret Santa amongst a friend group that Casey was only barely friends with, still teetering on close acquaintances. They were mostly Lisa’s friends.

She made it two hours before she felt like the walls were closing in. They had been playing board games in a confusing set of teams. There was a lot of leaning over one another to see the board.

She was trapped.

Deep breaths, Steve had reminded her the first time it happened.

She couldn’t breath.

She was falling.

There was a noise. Casey knew it was an old washing machine rattling in a room. She knew it sounded nothing like the guns.

He had been shot

She had felt his pain

Seen his memories

She had been shot

It is over, Steve had assured her.

“That’s cheating!” Someone laughed. A spoon scraped the bottom of an almost empty candy dish. Casey heard Ultron dragging himself across the floor.

She was bleeding out

She was going to die.

“Steve..” she pleaded.

Where was Steve?

“Whoa Cas, you good?” someone asked. Casey knew it was Lisa, but why was she so far.

“I-I...”

I’m dying, She had told Steve.

He had died

She had failed

“Why don’t we head outside for a bit,” Lisa placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

Casey jumped.

One of the robots had her.

Ultron is gone, Steve had told her gently.

She wasn’t safe

You’re okay, repeat it, you’re okay, He had instructed

I am ok, She repeated with the memory.

“I’m fine, just need some fresh air, you stay though,” she managed to stutter.

He was dead.

He is fine, she fought back. She knew he was okay, but she still sought reassurance. Her hands shook as she pulled out her phone to call Wanda.

“Hey what’s up?” Wanda asked.

“Um not much... how... how is Pietro?”

“Vitals are still steady.”

“Wanda, do you think he is dreaming?” Casey asked before she could stop herself.

“He is fine, Casey,” Wanda insisted, knowing exactly what Casey was scared of.

She called her mom after Wanda. She didn’t go back in, opting to stay out on the front porch despite the heavy snowfall.

“Hey sweetie,” Her mom smiled gently when Casey opened the car door, sliding her crutches onto the back seat before sinking into the passenger's seat.

“Thank you for coming to get me,” Casey offered a weak smile, if her face wasn’t already red from the cold, it would have turned red with embarrassment. “Probably weren't expecting to have to pick me up from a party anymore.”

“You’ve never been very predictable,” her mother smiled. Casey relaxed a little.

When she had called Lisa she had insisted she was just glad Casey was okay.

Casey now sat on her bedroom floor with a jar of peanut butter and a chocolate bar.

She was safe.

She was okay.

She fell asleep on the floor like she was little, and just like then her parents moved her to her bed, though with more struggle. They let her sleep past her alarm and told Captain Rogers she was taking a sick day. He had been relieved to hear she was finally taking a break.

She slept till noon and then laid in bed the rest of the day. The next day she got up to sit on the couch.

Wanda called the following week.

He was awake.

“We’re leaving,” Steve said, walking into the kitchen. He said it with the same casual tone her mom had when she was leaving to go to the grocery store.

“I hate you,” Casey glared at him over her coffee.

“You guys train together all the time? It’s not like you never spar with him.”

“You’re making me babysit!”

“I’m asking you to make sure your teammate doesn’t hurt himself any more, while we check a lead.”

“Jerk.”

“Has anyone told you that you’re overly dramatic?”

She threw a dish towel at his face.

“We’ll be quick,” he offered.

“You better.”

It wasn’t that she minded being around Pietro... but their relationship was complicated. He seemed under the impression he owed her and it was getting real annoying real quick. It was sweet that the twins wanted to make it up to her but she really just wanted to forget the whole thing, Not to mention he was a real pain in the neck.

“Vision will still be here,”

“Oh joy,” Casey rolled her eyes. Vision made her... uneasy. Wanda was still trying to teach him boundaries.

“Be nice,” was the last thing he said before leaving.

“So we get to skip the training today, yes?” Pietro asked, running up in front of her.

“You have got to stop doing that!” she said as soon as her heart rate had slowed to a somewhat normal pace. “And I thought you wanted to help your sister?”

“I do,” he insisted.

“Then no, we do not get to skip training.”

“You’re no fun.”

“This is stupid,” Pietro said for at least the fifth time.

“I don’t want to be here any more than you,” She reminded him. Though she was also recovering, and his super speed made his healing process similar to hers she was really there to make sure he didn’t over exert himself, again.

“We’ve been doing the same thing for weeks, any normal person could do this!”

They were sparring, if you could even call it that. It was really just them going through the motions: jab, block, jab, block.

“You can’t fool me into thinking you’re okay.”

He dropped his arms to his side so she whacked him on the head.

“You didn’t block,” she shrugged when he glared at her.

“I should be out there helping!” He argued.

She translated it to ‘I should be protecting Wanda’.

“They are fine,” she threw another punch, he blocked.

“I’m not useless! It’s my job to help them,” he threw a punch.

‘It's my job to watch after Wanda.’

“I mean technically it’s ... not,” Casey humored him. He glared at her. “Sorry, thought we were still pretending to be talking about the team, and not your sister, though the statement applies to both,” She smiled smugly.

He continued to glare at her.

“She is nineteen, Pietro, and she has fricken awesome powers. I know she can handle herself, so trust her.”

“You are annoying.”

She beamed at him. “Call it a day? There’s the best burger place down the street,” she offered.

“I thought we weren’t skipping today?”

“And we aren’t, just... ending early.”

He smirked at her. “Who knew you have a rebellious streak.”

“Shut up!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! probably won't be able to post every other week, but this should update every month. Thanks for reading!!! :D


	14. The Sokovia Accords

“We have officially finished high school!” Lisa declared holding up her diploma proudly.

“Good riddance,” Casey laughed watching her best friend who was still holding up her high school diploma like it was a trophy from a fight; to Lisa, it probably felt like it was.

“Now we just gotta make it through college.”

“Don’t remind me,” Casey groaned.

“At least you still have a year to decide where to go.”

“Casey!” Casey’s mom called, waving her hand and holding up her phone. They smiled for several rounds of photos til their faces hurt.

Casey and Lisa walked around talking to their classmates. Lisa did most of the talking, and Casey ended up stepping away to answer a call.

“Hi!” Wanda smiled, Pietro was standing behind her with a party horn

“You are now officially considered an adult by the general population,” Pietro smirked, it was an ongoing debate between them. He insisted that because she was still in high school no one would consider her an adult.

“Har, har,” she rolled her eyes at him.

Griffin was standing next to Wanda, smiling proudly. Casey had grown fond of the kid, even if he was overly fond of the dark, and had a bad habit of appearing out of nowhere.

“Congrats! You still want to go to medical school?” he asked.

“After my gap year yeah,” Casey beamed.

Her extended family had not been happy about the gap year. All she could offer them for explanation was a bunch of half-baked excuses. It wasn’t like she could walk up to her Grandmother and tell her she was taking a gap year to train with Captain America and Black Widow so that she could officially join the Avengers; though, her cousins would get a kick out of it.

She went out to dinner with her family to celebrate. The following day she went to the Avengers compound where their idea of celebrating was pizza and crappy sci-fi movies.

She spent most of the summer alternating between her house, where she would drive around with Lisa and pick up extra hours working at the cafe, or she was at the Avengers compound, playing video games with the twins and Griffin, training with Nat and Steve, or pestering Tony in his lab.

Working at the cafe was never boring, even if Casey wished it could be, just for once. There was always someone stressing over unmet deadlines, the occasional group of friends Consoling someone after a break-up. Nat had told her you could learn a lot by watching people. Most days though, when there weren’t any customers, Casey absent-mindedly wiped down counters or rearranged. A news station played on in the background rarely changing even when the same news story was being played too many times. Casey never paid much attention to it, until she heard Wanda’s name.

Casey didn’t catch a word the news anchor was saying. She could only stare at the images in horror. Steve had insisted they would be fine. Casey needed to stop believing that.

“Hey, Cas your shift is over.” one of her co-workers called.

“Er… right…” She looked away from the TV, untying her apron with shaky hands. She grabbed her purse before walking around to the other end of the counter.

“Two dozen cupcakes, please,” she said, rummaging through her purse for her wallet.

“Which ones?” asked her co-worker, whose name was along the lines of Josh.

“I don’t really know,” she sighed.

“I’ll surprise you?” he offered.

“Yeah, thanks.”

She had paid and was walking out when she heard one of the customers talking loudly. “I never did like those Maximoffs, especially not that girl.”

Casey had to force herself to keep walking, and not to throw something at the random customer, because Casey doesn't know Wanda, and if she did throw something she would probably lose her job, which she needs, because life costs money.

She drove straight to the compound. Griffin ran up to her before she was fully out of the car.

“Have you ever broken a TV at the compound?” he asked.

“No, what did you do?”

“Nothing!” he insisted. “Pietro punched one of them.”

“Of course he did,” Casey sighed as she shifted the box of cupcakes in her arms. “It’s fine,” she added when she noticed how worried Griffin looked.

She set the box on the kitchen counter before making her way to Pietro’s room. Griffin had been right; he had punched the TV, several times. It looked like he had dropped it out the window.

“You know there is a training room that’s a great place for letting off some steam?” Casey leaned against the door frame. “I think Tony would like you to use it, as opposed to a TV.”

“The news stations were asking for it,” he assured her.

“Uh-huh,” she turned to leave. “You should probably clean it up before they get back.”

He said something in Sokovian, his tone was angry so she figured it was probably a stream of curses.

When she made it back to the kitchen Pietro was already leaning against the island a cardboard box with what was once a rather nice TV in it. Griffin sat on the counter across from him.

“Still too slow,’ he joked.

She stuck her tongue out at him moving the box of cupcakes out of his reach. “Those are for later.”

He huffed in annoyance but thankfully didn’t try and take one from the box.

“They are back,” Vision announced, phasing through the cabinets causing Griffin to nearly fall off the counter. That was all he said before turning and leaving the same way.

Pietro was naturally the first to follow running out of the kitchen. Griffin simply slid off the counter falling through a portal he created on the floor. Casey sighed and made her way to the hanger, like a normal person, no phasing through the walls, or super speed, or portals.

“What happened?” Casey asked Steve when she reached the hanger.

“Bomb vest, they also took a biological weapon, Wanda tried to stop the bomb vest, I'm worried about her,” Steve frowned. They both turned to watch Wanda. Pietro was smoothing back her hair and saying something in Sokovian. Wanda had one arm wrapped around Griffin and was smiling sadly at her brother

“Well, frick,” Casey sighed.

Casey returned to the kitchen after Steve had left to check the news. Sam, Griffin and Nat had discovered the cupcakes. Casey joined them nibbling at a chocolate cupcake.

“This day sucks,” Griffin spoke for all of them.

They assumed it wasn’t going to get worse, until Vision announced Tony was back with the Secretary of State.

“Meeting, now!” Tony announced, marching through the kitchen.

They were gathered around a table with Secretary Ross standing at the front.

“Five years ago,” Secretary Ross started once they were all seated around the table. “I had a heart attack. I dropped right in the middle of my back-swing. Turned out it was the best round of my life, because after 13 hours of surgery and a triple bypass . . . I found something 40 years in the Army had never taught me: Perspective. The world owes the Avengers an unpayable debt. You have fought for us, protected us, risked your lives . . . but while a great many people see you as heroes, there are some . . . who would prefer the word ‘vigilantes’.”

“And what word would you use, Mr. Secretary?” Nat asked.

“How about ‘dangerous’? ” Secretary Ross offered. Cassey scoffed. “What would you call a group of US-based, enhanced individuals who routinely ignore sovereign borders and inflict their will wherever they choose and who, frankly, seem unconcerned about what they leave behind?” Ross turned on a screen behind him.

It briefly showed a map of the world zooming in on New York.

“New York.”

Video clips from the Chitauri invasion. People, civilians, were running everywhere and screaming. Hulk jumped off the roof of one building and crashed into another sending debris flying everywhere.

Rhodey looked away regretfully.

Casey decided not to point out that the government had tried to nuke New York which would have caused even more destruction and death.

“Washington DC.”

It was footage of the three helicarriers crashing; destroying buildings and sending a massive wave that engulfs citizens.

Sam looked away from the screen.

Casey once again held her tongue. The helicarriers were going to target and kill anyone who might have posed a threat to Hydra.

“Sokovia.”

Casey felt a wave of dread wash through her.

People run terrified and buildings collapse. Casey can’t look away. Pietro mutters in Sokovian.

“Lagos.”

The footage shows buildings burning and paramedics carrying away patients. The last clip is of a dead girl.

“Okay. That's enough,” Steve interrupted noticing how affected Wanda is by the footage. Griffin reached over to hold Wanda’s hand.

Secretary Ross nods and the video cuts off. “ For the past four years, you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That's an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate. But I think we have a solution,” He placed a thick document on the table passing it to Wanda, who reads the title and hands it to Rhodey. Secretary Ross continues, “The Sokovia Accords. Approved by 117 countries . . . it states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organization. Instead, they'll operate under the supervision of a United Nations panel, only when and if that panel deems it necessary.”

“The Avengers were formed to make the world a safer place. I feel we've done that,” Steve spoke up.

“Tell me, Captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now?”

“I don’t see how-” Casey started. Sam shook his head telling her to keep her mouth shut.

“If I misplaced a couple of 30 megaton nukes . . .”

“They aren’t- oh for crying out loud.” She had tried to point out that Thor and Banner were not 30 megaton nukes, they were people; but Sam had kicked her leg under the table.

Secretary Ross raised an eyebrow at her, Casey felt he was almost daring her to argue again. She would have, if not for Sam. “You can bet there'd be consequences,” he continued. “Compromise. Reassurance. That's how the world works. Believe me, this is the middle ground.”

“So, there are contingencies,” Rhodey confirmed.

“Three days from now, the UN meets in Vienna to ratify the Accords. Talk it over.”

“And if we come to a decision you don't like?” Nat asked.

“Then you retire,” he said before leaving.

They moved out to the kitchen and into the living room where the debate continued.

“Secretary Ross has a Congressional Medal of Honor, which is one more than you have,” Rhodey said to Sam.

Tony was spread out on a couch, palm covering his face. Steve was attempting to read the accords while Casey watched anxiously.

“So let's say we agree to this thing. How long is it gonna be before they LoJack us like a bunch of common criminals?” Sam asked.

“117 countries want to sign this. 117, Sam, and you're just like, ‘No, that's cool. We got it’. "

They had been arguing for at least ten minutes.

“How long are you going to play both sides?”

“I have an equation,” Vision spoke up.

Wanda was sitting next to him staring at her hands.

“Oh, this will clear it up,” Sam turned to face Vision.

“In the eight years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Iron Man, the number of known enhanced persons has grown exponentially. And during the same period, the number of potentially world-ending events has risen at a commensurate rate.”

“That’s… that’s just a coincidence,” Casey argued.

“Are you saying it's our fault?” Steve asked, looking up from the accords.

“I'm saying there may be a causality. Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict . . . breeds catastrophe. Oversight . . . oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand,” Vision explained.

“Boom,” Rhodey turned to Sam, the self proclaimed winner of their argument.

Casey looked over at Pietro, she figured he would have been mad. He was sitting next to Wanda, and from the change in facial expressions and small hand gestures, Casey guessed they were discussing something. Griffin did not seem to be included in the conversation, as he was standing towards the back of the room playing with a hacky sack.

“Tony. You are being uncharacteristically non-hyper-verbal,” Nat said.

“It's because he's already made up his mind,” Steve said speaking for Tony.

“Boy, you know me so well,” Tony said getting up and walking over to the kitchen.

“Actually, I'm nursing an electromagnetic headache. That's what's going on, Cap. It's just pain. It's discomfort. Who's putting coffee grounds in the disposal? Am I running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?” he asked, grabbing a mug and turning back to face them.

He takes his phone out of his pocket, setting it on the counter and tapping the screen, it projects a photo of a boy around Casey’s age.

“Oh, that's Charles Spencer, by the way,” Tony gestured at the projected photo. “He's a great kid. Computer engineering degree, 3.6 GPA. Had a floor level gig at Intel planned for the fall. But first, he wanted to put a few miles on his soul, before he parked it behind a desk. See the world. Maybe be of service. Charlie didn't want to go to Vegas or Fort Lauderdale, which is what I would do. He didn't go to Paris or Amsterdam, which sounds fun. He decided to spend his summer building sustainable housing for the poor. Guess where: Sokovia.”

Griffin stopped playing with the hacky sack. Casey heard it hit the floor. Pietro flinched. They knew this couldn’t mean anything good.

“He wanted to make a difference, I suppose. I mean, we won't know because we dropped a building on him while we were kicking ass.”

Griffin sat next to Casey. His eyes full of guilt. Casey took his hand, silent reassurance.

“There's no decision-making process here. We need to be put in check! Whatever form that takes, I'm game. If we can't accept limitations, if we're boundary-less, we're no better than the bad guys.”

“Tony, someone dies on your watch, you don't give up,” Steve said.

“Who said we're giving up?”

“We are if we're not taking responsibility for our actions. This document just shifts the blame.”

“I'm sorry. Steve. That - that is dangerously arrogant,” Rhodey shook his head. “This is the United Nations we're talking about. It's not the World Security Council, it's not SHIELD, it's not HYDRA.”

“No, but it's run by people with agendas, and agendas change,” Steve argued.

“That's good. That's why I'm here. When I realized what my weapons were capable of in the wrong hands, I shut it down and stopped manufacturing.” Tony walked over to Steve.

“Tony, you chose to do that. If we sign this, we surrender our right to choose. What if this panel sends us somewhere we don't think we should go? What if there is somewhere we need to go, and they don't let us? We may not be perfect, but the safest hands are still our own,” Steve had turned to speak to all of them.

“If we don't do this now, it's gonna be done to us later. That's the fact. That won't be pretty.”

“You're saying they'll come for me,” Wanda said. It’s the first thing Casey heard Wanda say since they got back.

Pietro started to say something, but Vision said it first.

“We would protect you.”

Under almost any other circumstances Casey would have laughed at them.

“Maybe Tony's right,” Nat spoke up.

“Nat you can’t be serious,” Casey turned to face Nat.

“If we have one hand on the wheel, we can still steer. If we take it off…” Nat reasoned.

“Aren't you the same woman who told the government to kiss her ass a few years ago?” Sam asked.

“I'm just . . . I'm reading the terrain. We have made . . . some very public mistakes. We need to win their trust back,” she explained.

“Focus up. I'm sorry, did I just mishear you or did you agree with me?” Tony asked. Griffin rolled his eyes and Casey is tempted to throw something at him, unfortunately the only thing within her reach is her phone.

“Oh, I want to take it back now.”

“No, no, no. You can't retract it. Thank you. Unprecedented. Okay, case closed--I win.”

Steve’s phone buzzed with a text alert.

“I have to go,” he said, standing to leave.

Sam informed Casey that Peggy Carter had passed away a couple hours before leaving with Steve.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a little later than intended. I have most of CA:CW written out, but it's like 9,000 words, counting this chapter, Age of Ultron was like 18,000 i think, can't figure out why it's so much shorter, but I'm going to try and beef it up a bit, so some chapters might be a little late.I am planning on writing a one shot for halloween so keep an eye out for that. As always Thanks for Reading. :D


	15. Chapter 15

Casey was regretting her decision to stay the night at the compound. Tony had insisted she was being ‘temperamental.’ Sure, she had been more than a little mad but it was with reason. Nat had repeated that they needed to stay together. Rhodey had told her she was being naive, blindly following Steve. Clint was “retiring” and suggested that she do the same, he said she was too young to be a fugitive. She ignored all of them, they were wrong.  
Pietro and Wanda pulled her to the side when she was on her way to her car.

“We need a favor,” Pietro spoke first.

“We talked with Clint, Steve isn’t going to sign, and he isn’t going to retire. Things might get… intense, Griffin shouldn’t be here.” Wanda didn’t look happy about where the conversation was going. “We need you to take him to the Reeds. He doesn’t need to have any part of this.”

“Tony agreed,” Pietro stayed like it was an oddity.

Casey didn’t think it was, Tony might have been… complicated, but deep down, amongst his ego, he cared.

“Just till it blows over, but we were hoping you could drive him.” Wanda was messing with one of her necklaces anxiously. “They know he’s coming and he’s packed already.”

Casey had thought about saying that he could have just stayed with her parents, but they already worked things out with the Reeds and that probably would have defeated the purpose of distancing him from it all.  
“Of course,” She assured them.

Griffin was standing at the kitchen counter. Casey wondered if he was okay with this, or if he only agreed for the twins. His face gave away nothing.   
“This is their address, and Evelyn’s number.” Pietro handed her a sticky note. “Stay safe?”

“Only if you do,” She offered a smile which he returned. 

“You have everything?” Pietro asked Griffin.

He nodded once, not looking at either twin.

Wanda said something in Sikovian and Griffin was smiling a little when he replied.

“I’m going to head out to the car just come on out when you're ready,” Casey said, leaving the three of them.

They weren’t long. Griffin only had a small suitcase so it fit in her car. 

There was a moment when Casey thought Griffin would argue, he looked like he wanted to argue. She could see him compiling an argument, but then Wanda pulled him into a hug and Pietro joined in and Griffin hugged them tightly for several minutes before climbing into the passenger seat of the car.  
He didn’t say anything for the first part of the drive, but Casey knew he was upset. All the shadows seemed to reach for her car, it was only a little unnerving. They stopped at a drive-thru for a late lunch when Casey realized it was almost three and neither of them had eaten.

“Have you met the Reeds?” She asked. She vaguely remembered them spending time at the compound after Ultron, but couldn’t recall if Griffin had ever talked to them.

“A little, Adeline is… strange. We played cards, and Elijah showed me how to play Mario Kart,” He shrugged.

“That’s good, I think you’ll get along. I know this sucks, and you would rather be at the compound, but-"

“I can handle myself,” He interrupted.

“I know, but people are scared and they are angry and you don’t deserve their anger. That’s why they wanted you to leave.” She really hoped he knew what she meant. There was a reason she never gave the speeches. 

“I know…”

She called Evelyn when they were fifteen minutes out.

“You ready?” 

“No,” he said, already climbing out of the car.

She looked down at the apartment number written down in Tony’s script. He had been writing fast and she didn't know if the last number was a one or a seven and she had to call Evelyn.

“Do you need help?” A woman with long brown hair and round glasses asked. 

Griffin ducked his head, embarrassed. They had been standing outside the door because he had asked for a moment to try and calm down before they went in. They hadn’t been standing too long so Casey hoped it wasn’t too suspicious.

“Nope, we are just visiting a family friend, and I realised I couldn’t find my phone,” Casey smiled. She had been putting her keys in her bag so it kinda worked.

“It’s in your pocket,” Griffin said. Casey knew it was his way of saying he was ready while keeping up her lie.

“Well now I just feel stupid.”

The women laughed. “Can’t tell you how often it happens to me.”

Griffin held Casey’s hand and knocked on the door, deciding to just get it over with. 

Evelyn answered the door smiling brightly. “Come in,” She stepped to the side, letting them enter. “Adeline and Elijah will be home in about an hour.”  
Griffin just nodded.

“Do you want to go ahead and put your stuff away?” David asked.

“You’ll be sharing with Elijah. I hope that’s okay?” Evelyn asked.

He nodded again before following David back to where he would be staying. After joining Hydra’s program he had quickly gotten used to sharing rooms, though he figured sharing a room with Elijah would be different then sharing a cell with other people who were all dead now. 

“He’s a good kid,” Casey said because she needed Evelyn to know. She couldn’t leave him with the Reeds until she knew they understood.  
Evelyn gave her a sympathetic smile. She’d seen how protective Casey had gotten of the three enhanced, especially of Griffin. “I know.” She assured her.  
She hadn’t been able to stay long. Griffin gave her a tight hug and she promised to call him that night.

Explaining things to her parents was difficult. Not as difficult as it probably should have been, her family had probably become a little too accustomed to these things. 

She had been trying to figure out a way to say goodbye to Lisa, when Lisa called her. Casey did the natural thing, panic and hit decline. The second time she managed to actually answer it. 

“Cas, have you seen the news!” Lisa had never been one to waste time with ‘hello’s and ‘how are you’s.

“Not yet. What happened?” Usually she wouldn’t care all that much. Her interest in Avengers related news only existed because of Lisa’s obsession with it, but given current events and Lisa’s tone she was rightfully worried.

“Oh, it’s horrible! 12 people were killed, Cas! And they're saying it was the Winter Soldier. Steve must-"

“Lisa! Spit it out!” Casey snapped.

There was a pause on the other end, giving Casey plenty of time to feel guilty. “There was a bomb at the signing of the Sokovia accords.” There was a notable change in Lisa’s tone.

“I have to go.”

She called Nat as soon as she got in the car.

“Please tell me you’re okay.”

“I’m fine, Cas. It’s Steve we need to worry about.”

“He’s going after Barnes?” 

“He’s going to get arrested.”

Casey let out an annoyed huff.

“You sure it’s smart to come in?” Nat asked, filling the silence.

“What do you mean?” Casey knew there was little point in lying, but she wasn’t known for listening to logic.

“You aren’t signing.”

“I need to find Steve. I need to talk to him,” She was begging at this point. Begging Nat to let her come in.

Nat let out a sigh. “ Tony’s flying in, he'll probably let you catch a ride with him.

“No.”

“What do you mean no!” She yelled storming after Tony.

“I mean this is extremely stupid even for you.”

“Even for-! Tony!”

He stopped suddenly checking his phone. He dragged a hand down his face. “Fine.”

“Nat texted, didn’t she?” Casey asked with a smirk.

He didn’t reply.

“Nice tattoo,” he commented.

She traced a couple of the flowers on her shoulder eyeing him suspiciously.

“Seriously it’s good you’re going to get another?”

“Maybe, if I get the chance.”

“You heard from Griffin?”

“No. Didn’t think you cared.”

He glared at her and she offered him an innocent smile.

“He’s quiet, he’ll get along with the girl.”

“You know her name.”

“Maybe.”

When they arrived they were split up. Tony followed Mat while Sharon Carter told Casey to follow her. Casey did not miss Nat’s wink. She mouthed thank you before Nat disappeared down a hallway.

Sharon stopped by a shorter man with white hair who was standing in front of three armed guards. 

“Every Ross,” he offered his hand.

“Casey Anderson,” Casey said cheerily, shaking his hand.

Sharon tapped her foot in the spot next to her telling Casey to stand next to her. 

Bucky Barnes arrived first. The other three were led out of a heavily armored van. 

“What's gonna happen to him?” Steve nodded towards Bucky.

“Same thing that ought to happen to you. Psychological evaluation and extradition,” Everett Ross said coldly.

“This is Everett Ross, Deputy Task Force Commander,” Sharon said.

“What about our lawyer?” Steve asked.

“Lawyer,” Ross chuckles humorlessly “That's funny. See their weapons are placed in lockup. Oh, we'll write you a receipt.”

Casey tried to keep her expression natural but couldn’t keep the frown off her face. That didn’t feel right.

“I better not look out the window and see anybody flying around in that,” Sam warned. As they all followed Ross.  
“You'll be provided with an office instead of a cell. Now, do me a favor, stay in it?” Ross said.

Nat grabbed Casey’s arm as they passed her; holding her back, so they could fall in step with Steve. 

“For the record, this is what making things worse looks like,” Nat told Steve.

“He's alive.” Steve said like it proved something.

“Try not to break anything while we fix this,” Nat added. They entered a conference room where Tony was waiting.

“Consequences? You bet there'll be consequences,” Tony said to someone over the phone looking at Steve in the eyes. “Obviously you can quote me on that 'cause I just said it. Anything else? Thank you, sir.”

“'Consequences'?” Steve asked.

“Secretary Ross wants you both prosecuted. Had to give him something.”

“I'm not getting that shield back, am I?”

“Technically, it's the government's property. Wings, too,” Nat said leading Casey towards the wall of monitors.

“That's cold,” Sam shook his head.

“Warmer than jail.”

Casey stood with Nat tapping her foot while she waited for Tony to finish up.

As soon as he left the office Casey went in.

“You just can’t stay out of trouble can you?” She asked, crossing her arms.

“He’s innocent,” Steve said.

“Never said he wasn’t. What’d Tony want?”

Steve stared at her for a moment like he had thought she was with Tony, she could see how it was confusing.

“You know he has the Maximoffs on house arrest?” He asked after a moment, neglecting to answer the question.

“I did not.” She wondered if they were aware of it yet. They didn’t get out much to begin with. 

“Have they signed yet?” She wasn’t sure what she thought the answer to be, or what she wanted it to be.

“I don’t think so, you’d probably know if they had.”

Casey shook her head. “They wouldn’t let me call them. Makes sense now that I know Tony’s got them on house arrest.”

“You not signin’?” Sam asked 

“No.”

“This shit is messed up,” Sam muttered.

“The receipt for your gear,” Sharon walked over to Sam.

“Bird costume? come on” He scoffed, offended.

“I didn’t write it,” she reached forward pressing a button on a panel and the TVs switched to show Bucky’s evaluation.  
Steve shot her a thankful look.

“Why are you in here?” She asked Casey who was leaning back in a chair, feet propped up on the table.

“Chillin’.”

Sharon raises an eyebrow. Casey mimicked the expression. Sharon glared at her before turning her attention to the TVs.

Steve picked up a folder with the photos of Bucky.

“Why would the Task Force release this photo to begin with?” He asked.

“Get the word out, involve as many eyes as we can?” Sharon shrugged.

“Right. It's a good way to flush a guy out of hiding. Set off a bomb, get your picture taken. Get seven billion people looking for the Winter Soldier.”

“You're saying someone framed him to find him.”

“Steve, we looked for the guy for two years,” Sam said.

“You didn’t find anything,” Casey added.

“We didn't bomb the UN. That turns a lot of heads,” Steve pointed out.

“Yeah, but that doesn't guarantee that whoever framed him would get him. It guarantees that we would,” Shanon said.

They all turned back to the tv screen.

“Yeah…”

The power flickered off.

“That can’t be good,” Casey noted.

Sharon turned to Steve. “Sub-level 5, east wing..”

When they made it to the east wing of sub-level five all they found were guards whom Casey hoped were just unconscious. She didn't see any blood which was a good sign. The ones she and Sam stopped to check were relatively fine, just unconscious.

“Help me. Help,” The man who had been performing the psych evaluation called.

Steve stormed over and grabbed the man by the shoulders. “Get up.” he slammed him against the wall. “Who are you? What do you want?”

Casey and Sam started to follow him into the room.

“To see an empire fall,” he said.

Casey made it into the room first. She didn't have time to take anything in before a fist came flying at her. She cursed clumsily blocking the punch. She barely lasted seconds before he had thrown her into a wall effectively knocking her out for a couple minutes. 

“Come on, Cas, get up,” Sam ordered slapping her face to get her to wake up.

“Stop that!” She swatted his hand away.

“Hey!” He yelled at someone over her shoulder running after them.

She sighed and got up to follow.

They chased him up a stairwell and out of the building.

“There's too many people. I’ve lost him,” Casey said, dodging several workers running from the building. 

“ Damn it,” Sam cursed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have given up on chapter titles for this chapter, also this is very late, sorry. I also feel like these are getting worse but am too lazy to fix that soooo. Thanks for reading! :D


	16. Airport fight

Steve was soaking wet when they saw him again. He was dragging Bucky Barnes with him.

Casey tensed and aimed her gun at him.

“He’s unconscious, Cas.”

Casey could tell he was trying not to roll his eyes at her.

“Hmmm. that’s nice,” Casey smiled tensely, still keeping the gun aimed at Bucky until they dumped him in the back seat of their stolen car. Casey watched him the entire drive to an abandoned warehouse.

Sam and Steve carried Bucky over to a piece of Machinery where Casey helped them clamp Bucky's metal arm in a vice.

“You think it’ll hold him?” she asked Sam.

“No.”

It was about half an hour before he came too again.

“Hey, Cap!” Sam called and Steve came running in. He paused for a moment to glare at Casey’s gun which was pointed at Bucky again.

“Steve,” Bucky said, trying to find a way to look up with his arm stuck.

“Which Bucky am I talking to?” Steve asked.

Bucky paused for a moment. “Your mom's name was Sarah,” He chuckled. “You used to wear newspapers in your shoes.”

“Can't read that in a museum,” Steve smiled.

“Just like that, we're supposed to be cool?” Sam asked.  
.  
“What did I do?” Bucky asked, fear obvious in his voice.

“Enough,” Steve said.

“Oh, God, I knew this would happen. Everything HYDRA put inside me is still there. All he had to do was say the damn words.”

“Who was he?”

“I don't know.”

“People are dead. The bombing, the setup. The doctor did all that just to get 10 minutes with you. I need you to do better than ‘I don't know’.”

Bucky paused again, brow furrowed. “He wanted to know about Siberia. Where I was kept. He wanted to know exactly where.”

“Why would he need to know that?”

“Because I'm not the only Winter Soldier.”

“Well shit,” Casey muttered.

“Your mother know you curse?” Sam raised an eyebrow at her.

“Given the situation I think she would let it slide.”

“How old are you?” Bucky asked. Whether he was just now noticing her presence or just the fact that she was not the same age as Sam, Casey couldn’t tell.

“Eighteen.”

“Who were they?” Steve asked before they could continue getting off topic.

“Their most elite death squad. More kills than anyone in HYDRA history. And that was before the serum.”

Casey cursed again. “This just keeps gettin’ better.”

“They all turn out like you?” Sam asked.

“Worse.”

“The doctor, could he control them?” Steve asked.

“Enough.”

“Said he wanted to see an empire fall,” Steve remembered.

“With these guys he could do it. They speak 30 languages, can hide in plain sight, infiltrate, assassinate, destabilize, They can take a whole country down in one night. You'd never see them coming.”

Sam walked over to Steve and Casey. “This would have been a lot easier a week ago.”

“If we call Tony . . .” Steve started.

“No, he won't believe us.”

“Even if he did . . .”

“Who knows if the Accords would let him help.”

“We're on our own.”

“Maybe not. I know a guy.”

“We could ask the twins, worse comes to worse,” Casey added, because everyone seemed to have forgotten they hadn't signed yet.

Steve frowned.

“She’s got a point,” Sam shrugged.

Sam and Steve both had calls to make before they could leave so Casey was left to get Barnes into their car. She released him from the vice and watched him roll his shoulders as he stood.

“You gonna keep that pointed at me the whole time?” He asked. He didn't sound offended or angry about it, just curious.

“Maybe.” She hadn’t really decided.

They all piled into the stolen car and drove to meet Sharon.

“I’m Casey,” she offered him her hand to shake when she realized they hadn’t been introduced yet.

“Bucky,” he was hesitant to shake her hand. “Your shoulder, what are those from?”

Both Sam and Steve shot him an odd look. 

“This one is from Ultron, he blasted someone; I healed them. This one is from a bullet, a teammate was shot; I healed him.”

“You got matching scars, it’s cute,” Sam smirked.

“I got ’matching scars’ with most of the team, including you, he ain’t special.”

Sam only smiled wider.

“You healed them?” Bucky asked, ignoring Sam.

“That’s my thing, I heal.”

She could see him filing this new information away.

“Not sure you understand the concept of a getaway car,” Sharon said to Steve when they arrived, after quite a bit of Sam’s passive aggressive comments towards Bucky.

“It's low profile,” Steve shrugged.

Casey wasn’t sure how true that statement was.

“Good, because this stuff tends to draw a crowd,” She opened the trunk of her car.

“Can you move your seat up?” Bucky asked Sam. 

“No.”

Bucky huffed and angled his legs away from the seat, kicking Casey’s leg in the process. “Sorry.”

“You’re fine,” she assured him.

“I owe you, again,” Steve said to Sharon.

“Keeping a list,” She glanced at Bucky. “You know, he kinda tried to kill me.”

“Sorry. I'll put it on the list, too. They're going to come looking for you.”

“I know.”

They leaned in to kiss and Casey looked away to give them some semblance of privacy. Sam and Bucky did no such thing. They were both smirking.

They had time to kill, but couldn’t really go anywhere. They did risk it and go through a drive through for food.

Casey also had them stop at a pay phone so she could call Griffin. She had had the foresight to memorize the Reeds’ home phone number

When they did arrive at the parking garage at the Leipzig/Halle airport They pulled into a parking spot next to a van. 

Steve and Sam got out to great Clint. Casey had a bit of a struggle getting out, and Bucky was anything but graceful.

“Cap,” Clint greeted, shaking Steve’s hand. Wanda and Pietro were standing behind him.

Casey ignored Steve and Clint in favor of hugging them both.

“You know I wouldn't have called if I had any other choice,” Steve apologized.

“Hey man, you're doing me a favor. Besides, I owe a debt.”

Casey didn’t miss Pietro's frown.

“Thanks for having my back,” Steve said to the twins.

“It was time to get off our asses,” Wanda shrugged. Pietro just nodded.

“How about our other recruit?” Steve asked.

“He's rarin' to go. Had to put a little coffee in him, but… he should be good,” Clint slid open one of the van’s side doors. It opened loudly, banging against the side, causing the man laid out across the back seats to jump awake.

“What time zone is this?” he asked.

“Come on. Come on,” Clint said, ushering him out of the van.

The man shook Steve’s hand. “Captain America.”

“Mr. Lang.”

“It's an honor. I'm shaking your hand too long. Wow! This is awesome! Captain America,” Lang laughed and turned to face the twins. “I know you, too. You're great!” He turned back to Steve and after a moment where he clearly didn’t know what to do with his hands he squeezed his shoulders. “Jeez. Ah, look, I wanna say, I know you know a lot of super people, so . . . thinks for thanking me,” He turned to Sam. “Hey, man!”

“What's up, Tic Tac?” Sam greeted.

“Uh, good to see you. Look, what happened last time when I . . .”

“It was a great audition, but it'll . . . it'll never happen again.”

Casey watched the whole thing, bemused. 

“They tell you what we're up against?” Steve asked.

“Something about some . . . psycho- assassins?”

“We're outside the law on this one. So, if you come with us, you're a wanted man.”

“Yeah, well, what else is new?” Scott was suddenly very serious. 

“We should get moving,” Bucky spoke up.

“We got a chopper lined up,” said Clint.

An alarm went off followed by an announcement in German.

“They're evacuating the airport,” Bucky translated.

“Stark,” Sam said to Steve.

“Stark?” Scott asked. 

“So they didn’t explain it to you?” Casey didn’t see how they could have without mentioning Stark. She shot an accusing glare at the other three. Clint shrugged, Pietro held his hands up in a ‘don’t look at me,’ gesture and Wanda smiled apologetically.

“Suit up,” Steve ordered.

Casey didn’t move till Clint threw a duffle bag at her.

“You brought my suite?” She asked.

“What? Did you think we were going to have you fight in jeans?”

“Yes.”

Once they were all suited up Steve went over the plan. Scott was going to shrink down onto his shield. The Maximoffs were going to stay in the parking garage with Clint and Sam. Bucky and Casey were going to be in the terminale. 

“What’s with the bruises?” Pietro asked.

“I was thrown into a wall,” Casey shrugged.

He nodded, it was a surprising regular occurrence. “Have you heard from Griffin recently?”

“Yeah I called him earlier today with a pay phone, he’s doing great,” She assured him. “You both sure you want to do this?”

“Yes.”

“Cas, you comin’?” Sam asked.

“Try not to almost die this time,” She teased before running after Sam and Bucky. 

The three of them were crouched in the terminal while Sam used redwing to search for the Quinjet.

“We found it. Their Quinjet's in hanger five, north runway,” Sam said over the comms to Steve.

“Come on,” Sam said, getting up and running. Bucky and Casey followed.

“What the hell is that?” Bucky asked when someone wearing red and blue spandex landed on the roof.

“Everyone's got a gimmick now,” Sam grumbled.

The guy swung through the window with some kinda rope knocking into Sam and Bucky.

Casey threw a punch and he dogged it. “Your Spider- whatever aren't you?” She aimed a kick at his side. “My friend’s a fan.”

“Of me?” He sounded too young to be an adult. 

“Of superheroes in general.” She managed to punch him in the face but he seemed mostly unaffected.

He threw her over the railing and she landed on the stairs.

“Sorry!” He yelled. 

“Who the heck apologies in a fight?” Casey grumbled, staggering to her feet. 

Bucky swung at him with his metal arm. He easily caught it. “You have a metal arm? That is awesome, dude!” 

Sam flew at the boy, picking him up. ”You have the right to remain silent!” he managed to squirm out of his hold before swinging after him. 

“You good?” Bucky asked, shaking webbing off his metal arm before following Casey who was running after Sam.

“Just some more bruising.”

Sam was flying backwards and firing at the boy.

Bucky threw a sheet of metal he tore off of something. 

“Hey buddy, I think you lost this!” the boy yelled, throwing it back.

Sam kicked him off of his ledge, but he just swung to a new one and webbed him to a railing. Casey fired a shot but he dodged the balls of energy and webbed her to a sign.

“Those wings carbon fiber?” he asked Sam.

“Is this stuff coming out of you?” Sam asked.

“That would explain the rigidity-flexibility ratio, which, gotta say, that's awesome, man.”

“I don't know if you've been in a fight before but there's usually not this much talking.”

“Alright, sorry, my bad.” He swung at Sam and Bucky ran to block him. Instead they both fell through the glass. “Guys, look. I'd love to keep this up but I've only got one job here today and I gotta impress Mr. Stark, so, l'm really sorry.” Before he could finish, Redwing flew by and pulled him out the window.

“You couldn't have done that earlier?” Bucky asked.

“I hate you.”

Bucky managed to get free and helped Casey out, while Sam grumbled about not needing help.

Once they are free they go to join the others on their way to the Quinjet.

“Come on!” Steve urged.

They are stopped by Vision who drew a line in front of them with a beam from the stone in his forehead.

“Captain Rogers. I know you believe what you're doing is right. But for the collective good you must surrender now,” Vision said.

Tony and his team approached to stand on the other side of the line Vision had drawn.

“What do we do, Cap?” Sam asked.

“We fight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got really excited when I was going to post this chapter because i thought i was going to update twice in one month, but then i realized it's January. My perception of time is really out of wack. Anyway hope you enjoyed this chapter and thanks for reading! :)


	17. Airport Fight 2

**Airport fight Part 2**

Casey fired at Vision, the shots weren’t charged enough to do any permanent damage. Not that it mattered since they kept passing through him.

He shot a beam from the stone back at her. They continued to trade shots.

Casey saw Wanda throw Nat off of Clint and tell him he was pulling punches, when she rolled behind a couple of crates.

“Oh, you're gonna have to take this into the shop,” Scott said over the comms inside Tony’s suit. ”It's your conscience. We don't talk a lot these days.”

Casey almost got hit because the comment made her laugh.

Vision left her and Spider-man took his place.

“Hey again,” He greeted flinging a crate at her.

“You're way too cheerful,” Casey said, dodging most of the crate; the edge bumped into her shoulder, throwing her a bit off balance.

“We gotta go. That guy's probably in Siberia by now,” Bucky said.

“We gotta draw out the flyers. I'll take Vision. You get to the jet,” Steve ordered.

Casey dodged another crate.

“No, you get to the jet! Both of you! The rest of us aren't getting out of here,” said Sam. 

Casey fired, this time hitting his shoulder. He fell backwards into a couple of crates.

“As much as I hate to admit it, if we're gonna win this one, some of us might have to lose,” Clint added.

“Just to clarify, we mean getting captured, right?” Casey asked. She knew her ex-teammates wouldn’t kill her, but if they called for backup she wasn’t so sure.

“Yes, Cas,” Clint said.

“This isn't the real fight, Steve,” Sam continued

“Alright, Sam, what's the play?” Steve asked.

“We need a diversion, something big.”

Spider-man was back up, swinging at Casey, who sidestepped and let him fly into a luggage cart.

“I got something kind of big, but I can't hold it very long,” Scott said. “On my signal, run like hell. And if I tear myself in half . . . don't come back for me.”

“He's gonna tear himself in half?” Bucky asked.

“You're sure about this, Scott?” Steve asked.

“I do it all the time,” Scott assured them. “I mean, once . . . in a lab. Then I passed out.”

Spider-man was back up and swung up to a new perch.

“I'm the boss. I'm the boss. I'm the boss,“ Scott chanted.

She didn’t know where he had been before, but now he stood taller than the buildings holding onto Rhodey’s leg.

“Holy shit!” Spider-Man yelled.

“I guess that's the signal,” said Steve.

“Way to go, Tic Tac!” Sam said flying around him.

“Give me back my Rhodey,” Tony said before Sam flew into him.

“I got him!“ Spider-Man yelled, barely managing to stop Rhodey from flying into a plane.

It was chaotic before, but now Casey was too busy dodging explosions and debris to rejoin the fighting.

She did see Vision phase through Scott. 

“Something just flew in me!” Scott panicked.

“It’s fine he went through you,” Casey promised.

“That is so weird.”

Casey took off after Vision knowing there was a reason for him to leave the fight. Wanda must have had the same thought, because when Vision shot down a tower to block Steve and Bucky, she was able to catch it. Casey fired at Vision, hitting him in the back.

Rhodey fired a sonic disruptor at Wanda causing her to drop the tower and clutch her head.

Pietro is at her side in a second frantically making sure she’s okay.

Vision tried to approach, but Casey cut him off.

“I'm sorry,” he said to Wanda.

“Me, too,” she said.

“It's as I said. Catastrophe.”

Tony and Rhodey were chasing after the Quinjet with Sam close on their tails. Vision turned and fired from the stone at Sam. Sam dodged the shot and it hit Rhodey in the chest. He plummeted.

“Wanda, how ya feelin’?” Casey asked, not taking her eyes off of Rhodey. Sam and Tony had both dived after him but neither of them were going to reach him.

She didn’t have to see the twins to know they were doing that thing where they had a silent conversation.

“Go,” Wanda said to Pietro.

He picked Casey up and ran to Rhodey.

“Read vitals,” Tony tells his AI.

Pietro set her down and ran back to Wanda.

“Heartbeat detected. Emergency medical is on its way,” FRIDAY replied.

“I’m sorry,” said Sam.

“Tony, I can help, please.” She held up her hands.

Tony blasted Sam back turning to face her. “You stay away!” He yelled frantically.

“Tony, please,” she took a step forward.

“This is your fault!”

“You attacked us!” She yelled, still moving forward.

“You broke the law!” 

She didn’t register the pain till she landed several feet away, her leg smoking. She had hit her head on a rock and was knocked unconscious.

Someone was dragging her towards an aircraft. She saw Wanda lying on the ground unconscious and Pietro fall before she lost consciousness again.

She was in a small holding cell. The door was opened and someone was cleaning the wound on her leg. Without a second thought she lunged at them she managed to take out one guard before another one zapped her side and she fell forward.

She was being carried, or more accurately, dragged, from the cell into a high security prison. This time she had restraints on her wrist. She saw the others be dragged off in one direction while she and Wanda were dragged down a separate hallway. They reached the end of the hallway. Wanda was dragged through one door that led to another hallway.

“Where are you taking her?” Casey asked, starting to panic. “Where are you taking me? Where-”

They knocked her out again.

She woke up in a cell. She was lying on the cold floor. She was still handcuffed , though these were different. She tried to break out of them, which only resulted with one dislocated thumb and no feeling in both her hands. And in case that wasn’t enough, she had a lovely ankle accessory to make sure she didn’t get past the doorway of her cell.

Sitting up was a struggle and she wasn’t motivated enough to even attempt to stand.

She scooted closer to the glass wall of her enclosure.

“Sam?” She could only see his back, he was facing away from her, but she thought she could make out a scar running across the back of his neck. That one had been painful.

“Hey,” The smile he gave her was forced. “Welcome to the raft.”

She stared at him blankly while flipping through her mental files trying to place the name. She remembered a couple of super villains being sent there over the years. It was a high security prison. “Oh joy,” She groaned leaning against the glass.

A sudden thump shook the glass and she jolted up. 

“Pietro,” Sam explained when she couldn’t find the source of the thump.

“Idiot,” she mumbled. She didn’t have the energy to care at the moment. She would talk to him after she regained some of her energy.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should have the next chapter up on the 21st. There will be one more chapter in this fic because i think the next chapter is a good pausing point. I'm going to continue with these characters though. Thanks for reading! :D


	18. the Raft

“Are these really necessary?” Casey grumbled, struggling to get her hair out of her face with the restraints on her wrist. “I’m in a cell, it’s not like I can do anything.”

“I don’t think they care,” Clint reminded her.

She could hear Pietro run into his door again; heard him curse when he was shocked, heard the guard yell a threat, and Pietro yell back at him.

She scooted closer to the wall between their cells. “Pietro. Pietro please stop,” she begged.

“They drugged us, they put her in a straight jacket, you were unconscious... you didn’t see it... they hurt her.” He sounded so broken, and that was worse than angry.

“ Pietro...” the rest of what she was going to say was cut off by Clint’s slow exaggerated clapping. “Stark,” the horror in her voice shocked her, Stark had given her her equipment, had shown her her room at the compound, he was as much family as the rest of the team. Then her mind flashed to Rhodes, to the gauntlet aimed at her.

Pietro had gone back to his attempts to break the door.

“The Futurist, gentlemen! The Futurist is here!” Clint yelled. “He sees all! He knows what's best for you, whether you like it or not.”

“Give me a break, Barton,” Tony walked over to his cell. “I had no idea they'd put you here. Come on.”

Clint spit on the floor. "Yeah, well, you knew they'd put us somewhere, Tony.”

“Yeah, but not some super-max floating ocean pokey. You know, this place is for maniacs. This is a place for . . .”

“Criminals? Clint offered, standing up. “Criminals, Tony. Think that's the word you're looking for. Right?” He leaned against the bars. “That didn't used to mean me, or Sam, or Wanda. But here we are.”

“Because you broke the law,” Tony said. ”I didn't make you.”

“La, la, la, la, la...” “You read it, you broke it.” “La, la, la, la la…”

“Alright, you're all grown up, you got a wife and kids. I don't understand, why didn't you think about them before you chose the wrong side?” He walked away.

“You gotta watch your back with this guy. There's a chance he's gonna break it!” Clint yelled after him.

“Hank Pym always said, you never can trust a Stark,” Scott said.

“Who are you?”

“Come on, man.”

“How’s the leg?” Stark asked.

Casey glared at him.

“Sorry about earlier,” he said awkwardly.

“The attacking us or threatening to blast me in the chest?” She asked, completely sarcastic.

“You broke the law!”

“Is that what you’re telling yourself?!” She stood with some difficulty. “Funny, I don’t remember the trial where I was declared guilty? Or the part where the accords were official, but apparently because I have powers I don’t get basic human rights!” She said the last part loud enough for the guards to pick it up.” She had no idea if any of the assumptions she was making were correct, and she couldn’t bring herself to care. She was angry and hurt and she wanted to hurt someone else.

“You are being dramatic.”

“I’m in a high security prison meant for supervillains?” Casey tilted her head. Pietro hit the door again, he couldn’t hit it at full speed due to the band on his ankle.

“What’s up with Sonic?”

“His sister’s in a straight jacket and shock collar, what do you think!” She hoped the snap would hide her worry because she couldn’t see him, could do nothing to help him.

“I’m sorry about this Casey I really am but-“

“I don’t need your lies, Mr.Stark.” She sat back down, facing away from him.

“How's Rhodes?” Sam asked.

“They're flying him to Columbia Medical tomorrow. So . . . fingers crossed,” Tony shrugged. “What do you need? They feed you yet?”

“Oh, you're the good cop now?” Sam asked.

“I'm just the guy who needs to know where Steve went.”

“Well, you better go get a bad cop, because you're gonna have to go Mark Fuhrman on my ass to get information out of me.”

Casey snorted.

Tony tapped a couple things on his watch. “Oh, I just knocked the 'A' out of their 'AV'. We got about 30 seconds before they realize it's not their equipment. Just look. Because that is the fellow who was supposed to interrogate Barnes,” Casey saw him show something on the watch. “Clearly, I made a mistake. Sam, I was wrong.”

“That's a first,” Sam snorted. “Cap is definitely off the reservation but he's about to need all the help he can get. We don't know each other very well. You don't have to…” “Hey, it's alright,” Sam sighed. ”Look, I'll tell you… but you have to go alone and as a friend.”

“Easy.”

***

Casey had been staring at the wall since Tony had left. Several guards had made comments that she may not be mentally stable, and maybe she wasn’t. Part of it was that she had sat back down, not thinking of her injured leg, so between the leg and the restraints she hadn’t been able to get back up.

Pietro was still trying to break through the wall though his attempts were becoming less frequent.

They both spent a fair amount of time talking in hushed voices, at first the guards had yelled at them for it; Casey was shocked a couple times, so was Pietro, but neither cared.

Every so often Sam would yell a sarcastic comment or go on some rant about freedom, just to annoy the guards, or Scott would start singing, anything from the ABCs to Adele.

The most unsettling times were when one of the other prisoners acted up, especially if they realized that part of the Avengers were here. Casey had closed her eyes, leaning against the wall of her cell. The worst part was she had no idea how long she had been there. She didn’t know the time or date. She didn’t know where Steve was, or if he would come for them. Scott was humming a song Casey was unfamiliar with when the power cut.

“Casey?” Pietro asked.

“I’m here.”

The red warning lights provided glimpses of the raft.

“Sorry I’m late.” An all too familiar voice said.

“Steve! You came back!” Casey scrambled to her feet.

“Did you think we’d leave you?” He asked.

“Didn’t know if you would be able to find us,” She clarified.

Bucky and T’Challa were standing behind him.

“You not trying to kill him?” Casey asked T’Challa when they were released from the cages. She was being supported by Scott.

“No.” He swiped at her restraints and the band on her ankle before moving on.

Casey rolled her wrist.

“Where’s Wanda?” Steve asked.

“I’ll show you,” Casey offered, remembering the hallway. “They led her through those doors, but I don’t know where they lead.”

Pietro ran ahead.

“This kid,” Clint muttered as they followed.

Pietro was holding his sister, smoothing her hair and whispering to her in Sokovian.

“We need to go,” Steve said.

***

“Where are we headed?” Casey asked Steve. They had been flying for an hour.

“Wakanda,” T’Challa answered.

Casey nodded. She was too tired to try and decide if that was a good idea.

“You think she’ll be okay?” Pietro asked Casey.

Wanda was sitting with her back pressed to the wall, she had yet to say anything.

“I don’t know,” Casey shrugged “How are you holding up?”

“Worried about her. Griffin too.”

“You look terrible,” he said breaking the silence that had settled over them.

Casey let out a shaky laugh that was too close to a sob. “I have a job, I have a best friend, who until recently didn’t know about this,“ she let out another shaky breath. “I didn’t get to say goodbye to her.. I just... I just left, I knew what was happening, and- this is right- this is what I believe is right.... but I didn’t say goodbye.” A tear slipped down her cheek, she didn’t bother wiping it away.

He hesitantly pulled her into a hug and smoothed her hair out of her face and kissed the top of her head, like he did with Wanda until she stopped crying and her breathing slowed.

“You asleep?” He asked after a minute.

“Shush,” Casey stirred enough to try and cover his mouth, she really only patted the side of his face. “ I’m trying to sleep,” she mumbled into his shoulder.

“When my arm goes numb you get up,” he warned her.

“Uh huh.”

“I mean it.”

“'Kay.”

***

“She’s eighteen, how old are you?” Bucky asked Pietro.

“Nineteen.”

Bucky frowned. “You in college?”

“I didn’t finish highschool.”

“I didn’t know that,” Sam said.

Pietro gave him an unimpressed look.

“Is she?” Bucky asked, pointing at Casey.

“She took a gap year, wanted to take time to figure somethings out. She had thought about Med school. She...What’s the phrase? Talked my ears off.”

“Did not,” she muttered barely awake. “How far out are we?”

“Through these trees,” T'Challa said.

“We’re flying through the trees?” Casey asked sitting up.

“Yes.”

She made her way to the front of the jet.

“I hope you aren’t fond of these trees.” She was not expecting the trees to be holograms. “Well frick.”

Steve and Bucky were led out of the jet while the rest of them stayed behind.

After they left Scott and Casey started a game of I Spy, which the others eventually joined once they got bored enough, or got tired of listening to Casey’s terrible guessing skills.

“I thought Nat trained you to be observant,” Sam said.

Casey was spread out on the floor and didn’t bother sitting up to look at him. “Shut up, I never claimed to be observant, and I’m tired as all get out.”

“All get out?”

“Shut up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will probably continue this in an another fic, or I'll just add to this one. I tend to be indecisive, either way I still have quite a bit more planed for this fan fiction and don't plan on taking a hiatus, not that my posting schedule has ever been very regular. The next bit is going to focus more on Adeline and Griffin. I hope you are enjoying this fic if you have any feed back or suggestions i'd love to hear them. As always thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> "The Siren, The Healer and Darkness Himself" should update at least once a month (probably on a Sunday , but please be patient with me if I miss and update. Hope you like the story! I do not own marvel.  
> Instagram: @cress1029


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